Morpholinyl silicon phthalocyanine nanoparticles with lysosome cell death and two-photon imaging functions for in vitro photodynamic therapy of cancer cells

Hongjie Yu; Jianling Chen; Xiuqin Chen; Tiantian Zhang; Yuyang Li; Kuizhi Chen; Yiru Peng; Linying Chen

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1181448

Morpholinyl silicon phthalocyanine nanoparticles with lysosome cell death and two-photon imaging functions for in vitro photodynamic therapy of cancer cells

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 May 5:11:1181448. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1181448. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hongjie Yu¹, Jianling Chen², Xiuqin Chen¹, Tiantian Zhang¹, Yuyang Li³, Kuizhi Chen¹, Yiru Peng¹, Linying Chen³

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Fujian Province Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China.
² College of Photonic & Electronic Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China.
³ Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.

Abstract

The lysosome is an important target for realizing antitumor therapy. Lysosomal cell death exerts significant therapeutic effects on apoptosis and drug-resistance. The development of lysosome-targeting nanoparticles to obtain efficient cancer treatment is challenging. In this article, nanoparticles composed of DSPE@M-SiPc and possessing bright two-photon fluorescence, lysosome targeting ability, and photodynamic therapy multifunctionalities are prepared by encapsulating morpholinyl-substituted silicon phthalocyanine (M-SiPc) with 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy(poly(ethylene glycol))-2000] (DSPE). Two photon fluorescence bioimaging showed that M-SiPc and DSPE@M-SiPc mainly locate in lysosomes after cellular internalization. Upon irradiation, DSPE@M-SiPc effectively generates reactive oxygen species and damages the function of lysosome, subsequently leading to lysosomal cell death. DSPE@M-SiPc is a promising photosensitizer for cancer treatment.

Keywords: lysosome target; morpholine; photodynamic therapy; phthalocyanine; two-photon bio-imaging.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21274021), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian (2019Y0007, 2020J011202), the Joint Funds of Fujian Provincial Health and Education Research (2019-WJ-23), and the Joint Funds for the Innovation of Science and Technology, Fujian Province (2021Y9145).