Chemical approaches for the enhancement of porphyrin skeleton-based photodynamic therapy

Abstract

With the development of photodynamic therapy (PDT), remarkable studies have been conducted to generate photosensitisers (PSs), especially porphyrin PSs. A variety of chemical modifications of the porphyrin skeleton have been introduced to improve cellular delivery, stability, and selectivity for cancerous tissues. This review aims to highlight the developments in porphyrin-based structural modifications, with a specific emphasis on the role of PDT in anticancer treatment and the design of PSs to achieve a synergistic effect on multiple targets.

Keywords:

• PDT
• PS
• porphyrin
• photoactivity
• anti-cancer

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, NSFC [Grant No. 21576239 and 81803340] and Zhejiang Natural Science Foundation [LY20H300004].