Folic Acid-conjugated Graphene Oxide loaded with Photosensitizers for Targeting Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as an alternative and promising noninvasive treatment for cancer as well as non-cancer diseases, which involves the uptake of photosensitizers (PSs) by cancer cells followed by irradiation. The use of nanomaterials as carriers of PSs is a very promising approach to improve the development of PDT in clinical medicine. In this study, a novel folic acid-conjugated graphene oxide (GO) was strategically designed and prepared as targeting drug delivery system to achieve higher specificity. The second generation photosensitizer (PS) Chlorin e6 (Ce6) was effectively loaded into the system via hydrophobic interactions and π-π stacking. The nanocarriers can significantly increase the accumulation of Ce6 in tumor cells and lead to a remarkable photodynamic efficacy on MGC803 cells upon irradiation. These suggested that folic acid-conjugated GO loaded Ce6 had great potential as effective drug delivery system in targeting PDT.