Citation: Mengxing Liu, Jing Liu, Hongxing Zhang, Lijuan Wang, Jianan Tao, Wei Guo. Augmenting heptamethine cyanine photosensitivity while retaining strong fluorescence emission: Forming dye-albumin nanocomplex enables tumor-targeted photodynamic therapy[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(4): 111141. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111141 shu

Augmenting heptamethine cyanine photosensitivity while retaining strong fluorescence emission: Forming dye-albumin nanocomplex enables tumor-targeted photodynamic therapy

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China

liujing4203@sxu.edu.cn

hxzhang4714@sxu.edu.cn

guow@sxu.edu.cn

Received Date: 23 January 2025
Revised Date: 15 March 2025
Accepted Date: 25 March 2025
Available Online: 25 March 2025

Figures(3)

In this work, the spin-orbit charge transfer intersystem crossing (SOCT-ISC) mechanism is introduced into the near-infrared and highly photon-capturing heptamethine cyanine (Cy7) class to construct photosensitizer (PS) for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumor. The target PS AN–Cy7 shows an obviously improved singlet oxygen (¹O₂) quantum yield than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved indocyanine green (ICG) under 750 nm low-power photoirradiation (30 mW/cm²) while retaining strong fluorescence at ~805 nm. Importantly, the PS forms a 2:1 dye-human serum albumin (HSA) nanocomplex, ensuring its strong accumulation and retention at tumor site (up to five days) post intravenous injection. After a single PDT treatment, the nanocomplex almost completely ablates primary tumor while triggering an antitumor immune response to suppress the growth of distant tumors. Overall, the nanocomplex overcomes many shortcomings of clinically used PSs, thus being promising for future clinical translation.
- Tumor,
- Photodynamic therapy,
- Heptamethine cyanine,
- Albumin,
- Nanocomplex
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