{Reference Type}: Journal Article
{Title}: Pure photosensitizer-driven nanoassembly with core-matched PEGylation for imaging-guided photodynamic therapy.
{Author}: Zhang S;Wang Y;Kong Z;Zhang X;Sun B;Yu H;Chen Q;Luo C;Sun J;He Z;Zhang S;Wang Y;Kong Z;Zhang X;Sun B;Yu H;Chen Q;Luo C;Sun J;He Z;
{Journal}: Acta Pharm Sin B
{Volume}: 11
{Issue}: 11
{Year}: Nov 2021
{Factor}: 14.903
{DOI}: 10.1016/j.apsb.2021.04.005
{Abstract}: Pure drug-assembled nanomedicines (PDANs) are currently under intensive investigation as promising nanoplatforms for cancer therapy. However, poor colloidal stability and less tumor-homing ability remain critical unresolved problems that impede their clinical translation. Herein, we report a core-matched nanoassembly of pyropheophorbide a (PPa) for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Pure PPa molecules are found to self-assemble into nanoparticles (NPs), and an amphiphilic PEG polymer (PPa-PEG2K) is utilized to achieve core-matched PEGylating modification via the π‒π stacking effect and hydrophobic interaction between the PPa core and the PPa-PEG2K shell. Compared to PCL-PEG2K with similar molecular weight, PPa-PEG2K significantly increases the stability, prolongs the systemic circulation and improves the tumor-homing ability and ROS generation efficiency of PPa-nanoassembly. As a result, PPa/PPa-PEG2K NPs exert potent antitumor activity in a 4T1 breast tumor-bearing BALB/c mouse xenograft model. Together, such a core-matched nanoassembly of pure photosensitizer provides a new strategy for the development of imaging-guided theragnostic nanomedicines.