Development of a pH-sensitive multitherapy agent

Cancer is one of the diseases that pose a major problem worldwide today. Undoubtedly, early diagnosis and treatment are of great importance in the fight against this disease. For cancer, three types of treatments including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and/or their combinations are used in clinics. However, these therapy modalities are not successful in all types of cancer. In addition, serious side effects may be observed even in cases where these therapies are sufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new materials that can be more effective and used in innovative therapies. As innovative treatment methods, phototherapy, including photodynamic (PDT) and photothermal (PTT) therapies, are attracting considerable attention in recent years. Within the scope of this thesis, a new pH sensitive nanotheranostic material that can be used in both photodynamic and photothermal therapy has been developed. In vitro studies show that this nanotheranostic material can inhibit the growth of cancer cells (Hep-2) as well as bacteria such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ATC 25922 and E. coli (ATCC 43300) that are highly resistant to antibiotics.