Issue 5, 2024

Aggregation-induced emission photosensitizer microneedles for enhanced melanoma photodynamic therapy

Abstract

The incidence and mortality rates of skin melanoma have been increasing annually. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) enables effective destruction of tumor cells while minimizing harm to normal cells. However, traditional photosensitizers (PSs) suffer from photobleaching, photodegradation and the aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect, and it is challenging for light to reach the deep layers of the skin to maximize the efficacy of PSs. Herein, we developed dissolving microneedles (MNs) loaded with PSs of TPE-EPy@CB[7] through supramolecular assembly. The PSs effectively enhanced the type-I reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation capacity, with a concentration of 2 μM possessing nearly half of the tumor cell-killing ability under 10 min white light irradiation. The MNs were successfully pierced into the targeted site for precise drug delivery. Additionally, the conical structure of the MNs, as well as the lens-like structure after dissolution, facilitated the transmission of light in the subcutaneous tissue, achieving significant inhibition of tumor growth with a tumor suppression rate of 97.8% and no systemic toxicity or side effects in melanoma mice. The results demonstrated the potent melanoma inhibition and biosafety of this treatment approach, exhibiting a new and promising strategy to conquer malignant melanoma.

Graphical abstract: Aggregation-induced emission photosensitizer microneedles for enhanced melanoma photodynamic therapy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 ное 2023
Accepted
25 дек 2023
First published
03 яну 2024

Biomater. Sci., 2024,12, 1263-1273

Aggregation-induced emission photosensitizer microneedles for enhanced melanoma photodynamic therapy

L. Liang, T. Peng, X. Y. Geng, W. Zhu, C. Liu, H. Peng, B. Z. Chen and X. D. Guo, Biomater. Sci., 2024, 12, 1263 DOI: 10.1039/D3BM01819A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements