AUTHOR=Lei Li , Dai Bin , Han Ting , Zhou Cheng , Gong Zhao , Zhang Ping 

TITLE=Modifying aluminum phthalocyanine with quantum dots to promote cellular uptake and enhance the efficacy of anticancer photodynamic therapy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Materials

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/materials/articles/10.3389/fmats.2022.1056212

DOI=10.3389/fmats.2022.1056212

ISSN=2296-8016

ABSTRACT=<p>Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is regarded as an alternative anti-tumor therapy which involves the administration of photosensitizers (PSs) and irradiation with specific light. However, conventional PDT therapy has been limited to the efficiency of PS delivery. A nanocarrier system could provide an effective platform for PS delivery and improve the efficiency of antitumor PDT. In this article, we prepared a complex consisting of aluminum phthalocyanine (AlPcS) and CdSe/CdZnS core-shell structure QDs and investigated the interaction between the complex and tumor cells. A more significant internalization of the conjugation was observed compared to free AlPcS <italic>via</italic> confocal fluorescence imaging. The tumor cells exhibited an obvious apoptotic trend after QD–AlPcS-mediated PDT.</p>