Boosting the photodynamic therapy efficiency by using stimuli-responsive and AIE-featured nanoparticles

Photosensitizers with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics are of great interest for cancer theranostics involving both fluorescence imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, in the purpose of clinical trials of PDT, the development of prominent drug delivery systems for boosting the PDT efficiency of AIE photosensitizers is highly desirable but still remain a challenging task. Herein, a novel strategy is designed and performed for boosting PDT effect based on stimuli-responsive nano-micelles as extraordinary carriers for an AIE photosensitizer, namely MeTTMN. Those presented stimuli-responsive nano-micelles loading MeTTMN exhibit good biocompatibility, excellent stability, appropriate nanoparticle size, high loading efficiency, outstanding imaging quality and significantly promoted PDT performance, eventually making them remarkably impressive and significantly superior to commercially available nano-micelles carried MeTTMN. This study thus offers an ideal template for fluorescence imaging-guided PDT, as well as a promising candidate for clinical trials. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd