A new modality for cancer treatment-nanoparticle mediated microwave induced photodynamic therapy

Mengyu Yao, Lun Ma, Lihua Li, Junying Zhang, Rebecca X. Lim, Wei Chen*, Yu Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

110 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has attracted ever-growing attention as a promising modality for cancer treatment. However, due to poor tissue penetration by light, photodynamic therapy has rarely been used for deeply situated tumors. This problem can be solved if photosensitizers are activated by microwaves (MW) that are able to penetrate deeply into tissues. Here, for the first time, we report microwave-induced photodynamic therapy and exploit copper cysteamine nanoparticles as a new type of photosensitizer that can be activated by microwaves to produce singlet oxygen for cancer treatment. Both in vitro and in vivo studies on a rat osteosarcoma cell line (UMR 106-01) have shown significant cell destruction using copper cysteamine (Cu-Cy) under microwave activation. The heating effects and the release of copper ions from Cu-Cy upon MW stimulation are the main mechanisms for the generation of reactive oxygen species that are lethal bullets for cancer destruction. The copper cysteamine nanoparticle-based microwave-induced photodynamic therapy opens a new door for treating cancer and other diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1835-1851
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Biomedical Nanotechnology
Volume12
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cancer
  • Copper Cysteamine
  • Microwave
  • Nanoparticles
  • Photodynamic Therapy
  • Singlet Oxygen

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