Red Blood Cell-Facilitated Photodynamic Therapy for Cancer Treatment

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising treatment modality for cancer management. So far, most PDT studies have focused on delivery of photosensitizers to tumors. O(2), another essential component of PDT, is not artificially delivered but taken from the biological milieu. However, cancer cells demand a large amount of O(2) to sustain their growth and that often leads to low O(2) levels in tumors. The PDT process may further potentiate the oxygen deficiency, and in turn, adversely affect the PDT efficiency. In the present study, a new technology called red blood cell (RBC)-facilitated PDT, or RBC-PDT, is introduced that can potentially solve the issue. As the name tells, RBC-PDT harnesses erythrocytes, an O(2) transporter, as a carrier for photosensitizers. Because photosensitizers are adjacent to a carry-on O(2) source, RBC-PDT can efficiently produce (1)O(2) even under low oxygen conditions. The treatment also benefits from the long circulation of RBCs, which ensures a high intraluminal concentration of photosensitizers during PDT and hence maximizes damage to tumor blood vessels. When tested in U87MG subcutaneous tumor models, RBC-PDT shows impressive tumor suppression (76.7%) that is attributable to the codelivery of O(2) and photosensitizers. Overall, RBC-PDT is expected to find wide applications in modern oncology.