Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising alternative to conventional cancer treatment methods. Nonetheless, improvement of in vivo light penetration and cancer cell-targeting efficiency remain major challenges in clinical photodynamic therapy. This study aimed to develop multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles conjugated with a photosensitizer (PS) and cancer-targeting molecules via a simple surface modification process for PDT. To selectively target cancer cells and PDT functionality, core magnetic (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles were covalently bound with chlorin e6 (Ce6) as a PS and folic acid (FA). When irradiated with a 660-nm long-wavelength light source, the Fe₃O₄-Ce6-FA nanoparticles with good biocompatibility exerted marked anticancer effects via apoptosis, as confirmed by analyzing the translocation of the plasma membrane, nuclear fragmentation, activities of caspase-3/7 in prostate (PC-3) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cells. Ce6, used herein as a PS, is thus more useful for PDT because of its ability to produce a high singlet oxygen quantum yield, which is owed to deep penetration by virtue of its long-wavelength absorption band; however, further in vivo studies are required to verify its biological effects for clinical applications.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been adopted as a minimally invasive approach for the localized treatment of superficial tumors, representing an improvement in the care of cancer patients. To improve the efficacy of PDT, it is important to first select an optimized nanocarrier and determine the influence of light parameters on the photosensitizing agent. In particular, much more knowledge concerning the importance of fluence and exposure time is required to gain a better understanding of the photodynamic efficacy. In the present study, we synthesized novel folic acid-(FA) and hematoporphyrin (HP)-conjugated multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles (CoFe₂O₄-HPs-FAs), which were characterized as effective anticancer reagents for PDT, and evaluated the influence of incubation time and light exposure time on the photodynamic anticancer activities of CoFe₂O₄-HPs-FAs in prostate cancer cells (PC-3 cells). The results indicated that the same fluence at different exposure times resulted in changes in the anticancer activities on PC-3 cells as well as in reactive oxygen species formation. In addition, an increase of the fluence showed an improvement for cell photo-inactivation. Therefore, we have established optimized conditions for new multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles with direct application for improving PDT for cancer patients.

Nowadays, photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a quite promising approach for killing various cancer cells. In this work, we report on photo-functional magnetic nanoparticles conjugated with hematoporphyrin...

Nanomedicine, which involves the use of magnetic nanoparticles such as Fe₃O₄, has provided novel technical solutions for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Most studies in nanomedicine have focused on the use of nanoparticles with magnetic resonance imaging and hyperthermia. However, to achieve optimum anticancer effects, it is important to understand the physicochemical properties of magnetic nanoparticles and their interactions with biological entities. In this study, we synthesized Fe₃O₄particles of various sizes and conjugated them with hematoporphyrin (HP) molecules by using a simple surface-modification method. HP molecules were covalently bound to the surface of Fe₃O₄particles by a wet chemical process, resulting in Fe₃O₄@HPs particles that were uniform in size, were nontoxic, and exhibited strong anticancer effects on human prostate cancer (PC-3) and breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines. The Fe₃O₄@HPs particles showed remarkable and efficient photodynamic anticancer activity, depending on their particle size. These results indicate that all size of Fe₃O₄@HPs particles can be useful for photodynamic anticancer therapy, although the smaller size is better than the larger size and further studies will be needed to confirm the potential for clinical anticancer treatment.