Abstract
Targeted Photodynamic therapy (TPDT) is a non-invasive and site-specific treatment modality, which has been utilized to eradicate cancer tumour cells with photoactivated chemicals or photosensitizers (PSs), in the presence of laser light irradiation and molecular tissue oxygen. Breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women worldwide and is currently treated using conventional methods such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. Despite the recent advancements made in PDT, poor water solubility and non-specificity of PSs, often affect the overall effectivity of this unconventional cancer treatment. With respect to conventional PS obstacles, great strides have been made towards the application of targeted nanoparticles in PDT to resolve these limitations. Therefore, this review provides an overview of scientific peer reviewed published studies in relation to functionalized organic nanoparticles (NPs) for effective TPDT treatment of breast cancer over the last 10 years (2009 to 2019). The main aim of this review is to highlight the importance of organic NP active based PDT targeted drug delivery systems, to improve the overall biodistribution of PSs in breast cancer tumour’s.
Highlights
Breast cancer is a pervasive and common disease, which causes the second highest cancer-related death amongst women worldwide [1]
The results showed that combination of the active targeting therapy mediated by Lyp-1 and photothermal therapy (PTT)/Photodynamic therapy (PDT) obliterated the breast cancer tumour cells after receiving 808 nm radiation
In spite of the extensive application of micelles in drug delivery PDT applications for insoluble PSs, the potential dissociation of micelles and dilution below critical micelle concentration needs to be taken into consideration in order to prevent their unwanted side effects in physiological conditions [90, 91]. Regardless of such drawbacks, some nanomicelles such as paclitaxel, doxorubicin and cisplatin have successfully been introduced in clinical testing trials
Summary
Breast cancer is a pervasive and common disease, which causes the second highest cancer-related death amongst women worldwide [1]. The integration of nanoscience’s and PDT opens a new window of interest in the exploration and functionalized NPs for the targeted drug delivery of PSs to breast cancer cells, with high selectivity and specificity, in order to diminish unwanted side-effects on healthy cells, enhance and overall improve treatment outcomes, as to ensure patient survival. A novel coumarin-containing all-trans retinoic acid (AC) as an anti-tumour drug, a PS indocyanine green (ICG) dye-loaded polymer NPs with the targeted ligand cyclic (Arg-Gly-Asp-D-Phe-Lys) (cRGD) peptide were employed to prepare the nanoplatform of AC/ICG-TNPs. MB-231 cells compared to non-targeted AC/ICG-NPs. In addition, in connection with the low expression of αvβ in MCF-7 breast cancer cells, weaker cellular uptake was found for AC/ICG-TNPs. The treatment of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells with AC/ICG-TNPs mediated by ICG and 808 nm NIR irradiation produced significant ROS in contrast to free AC with laser or AC/ICG-TNPs group alone. The application of biological NPs should broadened the near future of breast cancer TPDT treatment, due to their imputable low toxicity, high biodegradability and biocompatibility, as well as their intrinsic ability to evade the immune system uncoated, while most other NPs required PEG coating to achieve a similar result [59]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
