Synergistic photodynamic therapy (PDT) that combines photosensitizers (PSs) to attack different key sites in cancer cells is very attractive. However, the use of multiple PSs may increase dark cytotoxicity. Additionally, realizing the multiple vein passage of several PSs through dosing could be a challenge in clinical treatment. To address these issues, a novel strategy that enables a single PS to ablate two key sites (i.e., cytomembranes on the outside and mitochondria on the inside) of cancer cells synergistically was proposed. Five new fluorinated ruthenium (II) complexes (Ru1-Ru5), which possessed excellent two-photon properties and good singlet oxygen quantum yields, were designed and synthesized. When incubated with HeLa cells, the complexes were observed on the cytomembranes at first. With an extension of the treatment time, both the cytomembranes and mitochondria were lit up by the complexes. Under two-photon laser irradiation, the mitochondria and cytomembranes were ablated simultaneously, and the HeLa cells were destroyed effectively by the complexes, whether the cells were in a monolayer or in multicellular spheroids. With the largest phototoxicity index under the two-photon laser, Ru4 was used for two-photon PDT of in vivo xenograft tumors and successfully inhibited the growth of the tumors. Our results emphasized that the strategy of attacking two key sites with a single PS is an efficient method for PDT.
Keywords: Two-photon photodynamic therapy; cytomembrane; fluorination; mitochondria; ruthenium (II) complex.