Bifunctional agents for imaging and therapy

Optical and Optoacoustic Imaging

The spatiotemporal determination of molecular events and cells is important for understanding disease processes, especially in oncology, and thus for the development of novel treatments. Equally important is the knowledge of the biodistribution, localization, and targeted accumulation of novel therapies as well as monitoring of tumor growth and therapeutic response. Optical imaging provides an ideal versatile platform for imaging of all these problems and questions.

Synthesis and characterization of photodynamic activity of an iodinated Chlorin p6copper complex

A novel iodinated copper complex of Chlorinp₆that acts as type I photosensitizer and capable of inducing phototoxicity in cancer cells under hypoxia.

Advance in photosensitizers and light delivery for photodynamic therapy

The brief history of photodynamic therapy (PDT) research has been focused on photosensitizers (PSs) and light delivery was introduced recently. The appropriate PSs were developed from the first generation PS Photofrin (QLT) to the second (chlorins or bacteriochlorins derivatives) and third (conjugated PSs on carrier) generations PSs to overcome undesired disadvantages, and to increase selective tumor accumulation and excellent targeting. For the synthesis of new chlorin PSs chlorophyll a is isolated from natural plants or algae, and converted to methyl pheophorbide a (MPa) as an important starting material for further synthesis. MPa has various active functional groups easily modified for the preparation of different kinds of PSs, such as methyl pyropheophorbide a, purpurin-18, purpurinimide, and chlorin e6 derivatives. Combination therapy, such as chemotherapy and photothermal therapy with PDT, is shortly described here. Advanced light delivery system is shown to establish successful clinical applications of PDT. Phtodynamic efficiency of the PSs with light delivery was investigated in vitro and/or in vivo.

Efficient synthesis and in vitro photodynamic anticancer study of new purpurinimide-hydrazone conjugates

A series of new purpurinimide-hydrazone conjugates were synthesized, and their in vitro anticancer efficacy against A549 lung cancer cell lines was evaluated. It was found that the incorporation of the hydrazone group to the purpurinimide could increase their anticancer activities via a combination of photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy.