The purpose of this study was to explore the photodynamic and photothermal effects of the supramolecular material Purp@COP and to test the anti-cancer effect on HepG2 cells in vitro.
Materials and methods: Purp@COP is a covalent organic polymer (COP) with robust tailoring heteroatom incorporation, plentiful pore structure, and multiple functions similar to the metal-organic framework (MOF). Hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 was cultured with Purp@COP for 24 h and treated with near-infrared 808-nm laser 1 W/cm2 for 10 min. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, colony formation assay, live-dead cell fluorescence staining, and Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining flow cytometry were performed to detect the viability, proliferation, and apoptosis of the HepG2 cells.
Results: The supramolecular material Purp@COP exhibited significant photothermal performance under near-infrared 808-nm laser irradiation in vitro. With the treatment of Purp@COP and near-infrared 808-nm laser irradiation on HepG2 cells, cell viability and colony formation capacity were decreased, and the number and proportion of apoptotic cells were increased.
Conclusions: The supramolecular material Purp@COP has both photothermal and photodynamic effects and can significantly induce cancer cell death and inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells in vitro.
Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma; photodynamic therapy; photothermal therapy; supramolecular materials; tumor therapy.
Copyright © 2022 Xu, Zhang, Wang, Wang, Li, Li, Kuang, Liang, Ren and Duan.