Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a cancer treatment that kills cells using light, but there is a need for improved PDT drugs.  An ideal PDT drug exhibits high toxicity at low concentrations in the light while showing low toxicity in the dark.  It must be soluble in water but must also demonstrate lipid solubility to cross the cell membrane.  Seven new porphyrin derivatives were compared to Foscan as photosensitizers on triple-negative breast cancer cells.  All were highly effective below 10 �M but none as low as Foscan, a drug in Stage II clinical trials.  All exhibited less dark toxicity than Foscan.  The distribution coefficient (logD) and cell uptake were measured for each derivative.  No correlation was observed between logD, uptake and the light and dark toxicities.  Several of these compounds may be candidates for PDT drugs since they are effective at low concentration but show reduced dark toxicity compared to Foscan.

Modified porphyrins for photodynamic therapy of triple-negative breast cancer

245th National Meeting (2013)

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