Axel Sahovaler, Michael S Valic, Jason L Townson, Harley H L Chan, Mark Zheng, Sharon Tzelnick, Tiziana Mondello, Alon Pener-Tessler, Donovan Eu, Abdullah El-Sayes, Lili Ding, Juan Chen, Catriona M Douglas, Robert Weersink, Nidal Muhanna, Gang Zheng, Jonathan C Irish
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a tissue ablation technique able to selectively target tumour cells by activating the cytotoxicity of photosensitiser dyes with light. PDT is nonsurgical and tissue sparing, two advantages for treatments in anatomically complex disease sites such as the oral cavity. We have previously developed PORPHYSOME (PS) nanoparticles assembled from chlorin photosensitiser-containing building blocks (~94,000 photosensitisers per particle) and capable of potent PDT. In this study, we demonstrate the selective uptake and curative tumour ablation of PS-enabled PDT in three preclinical models of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma: biologically relevant subcutaneous Cal-33 (cell-line) and MOC22 (syngeneic) mouse models, and an anatomically relevant orthotopic VX-2 rabbit model...
February 29, 2024: Cancer Res Commun