Photosensitizers and Drug Delivery Systems for Photodynamic Therapy

A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmaceutical Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 June 2024 | Viewed by 707

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
LRGP, Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés, UMR 7274 CNRS-Université de Lorraine, 1 rue Grandville, 54000 Nancy, France
Interests: photodynamic therapy; cancer; photosensitizer; nanoparticles; targeting; fluorescence
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a light-based photochemistry process. The illumination of a photoactivatable molecule, also called photosensitizer, with visible or near-infrared light produces reactive oxygen toxic species to destroy tumor cells. This treatment modality leads to highly targeted actions because reactive oxygen species are produced only where light is applied. Light is not harmful, nor is the photoactivable molecule. Only the combination of three elements, namely a photosensitizer, oxygen, and light, is required to induce photo-oxidation reactions. PDT has proven to be a promising modality in many medical applications, including cutaneous conditions, infectious diseases, and various cancers at different stages.

The journal Pharmaceuticals invites both reviews and original articles shedding light on the challenges and opportunities of the development of innovative photosensitizers and/or drug delivery systems for PDT. Topics include selective photoactivatable molecules targeting receptors overexpressed into tumor membranes and/or on neovessels; molecules exhibiting red-shifted absorption for the better penetration of light into tissues; photobactericidal agents; theranostics; and photodiagnosis.

Dr. Céline Frochot
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • photodynamic therapy
  • photosensitizers
  • nanoparticles
  • photo diagnosis
  • targeting
  • antimicrobial
  • X-rays excitation
  • two-photon and up-conversion
  • Cherenkov
  • hypoxia

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

18 pages, 1455 KiB  
Review
Comparison of the Differences between Two-Photon Excitation, Upconversion, and Conventional Photodynamic Therapy on Cancers in In Vitro and In Vivo Studies
by Chuanshan Xu, Siu Kan Law and Albert Wing Nang Leung
Pharmaceuticals 2024, 17(6), 663; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17060663 - 21 May 2024
Viewed by 354
Abstract
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive treatment for several diseases. It combines light energy with a photosensitizer (PS) to destroy the targeted cells or tissues. A PS itself is a non-toxic substance, but it becomes toxic to the target cells through the [...] Read more.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive treatment for several diseases. It combines light energy with a photosensitizer (PS) to destroy the targeted cells or tissues. A PS itself is a non-toxic substance, but it becomes toxic to the target cells through the activation of light at a specific wavelength. There are some limitations of PDT, although it has been used in clinical studies for a long time. Two-photon excitation (TPE) and upconversion (UC) for PDT have been recently developed. A TPE nanoparticle-based PS combines the advantages of TPE and nanotechnology that has emerged as an attractive therapeutic agent for near-infrared red (NIR) light-excited PDT, whilst UC is also used for the NIR light-triggered drug release, activation of ‘caged’ imaging, or therapeutic molecules during PDT process for the diagnosis, imaging, and treatment of cancers. Methods: Nine electronic databases were searched, including WanFang Data, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, Springer Link, SciFinder, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), without any language constraints. TPE and UCNP were evaluated to determine if they had different effects from PDT on cancers. All eligible studies were analyzed and summarized in this review. Results: TPE-PDT and UCNP-PDT have a high cell or tissue penetration ability through the excitation of NIR light to activate PS molecules. This is much better than the conventional PDT induced by visible or ultraviolet (UV) light. These studies showed a greater PDT efficacy, which was determined by enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduced cell viability, as well as inhibited abnormal cell growth for the treatment of cancers. Conclusions: Conventional PDT involves Type I and Type II reactions for the generation of ROS in the treatment of cancer cells, but there are some limitations. Recently, TPE-PDT and UCNP-PDT have been developed to overcome these problems with the help of nanotechnology in in vitro and in vivo studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photosensitizers and Drug Delivery Systems for Photodynamic Therapy)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop