Photodynamic therapy using chlorin e6 incorporated mesoporous silica nanoparticles on lung cancer cells

Cancer threatens human health worldwide. The low selectivity and efficacy of standard therapeutic methods, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, may end up with recurrence and side effects. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is minimally invasive and offers selectivity. PDT uses photochemical agents called photosensitizers (PSs) that are sensitive to light. These agents, while normally nontoxic, become activated when exposed to light and produce cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, these agents may have some limitations such as low water solubility, aggregation low accumulation in tumor tissue. To overcome all these problems and increase the effectiveness of PDT, drug delivery systems are researched. In this study, Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (MSNs) containing Chlorin e6 (Ce6) was tested by performing analyses such as dark cytotoxicity, stability, cellular uptake, photodegradation assessment under light irradiation and PDT efficacy on A-549 lung adenocarcinoma cell line. The results showed that Ce6-incorporated MSN (Ce6-MSN) has low dark toxicity, revealed significant cellular uptake and a highly effective photodynamic effect even with low energy densities. Future studies will evaluate surface modifications of Ce6-MSN to increase cellular uptake, and create a more stable structure. Another future objective would be to focus on loading different PSs to increase PDT effect and see the effectiveness of the treatment in in vivo studies.