Fluorous photosensitizers enhance photodynamic therapy with perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) requires a photosensitizer, light, and oxygen to induce cell death. The majority of efforts to advance PDT focus only on the first two components. Here, we employ perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions to simultaneously deliver oxygen and a photosensitizer. We find that the implementation of fluorous soluble photosensitizers enhances the efficacy of PDT.