Design of novel cancer drugs and treatments is an always present need. One of these treatments is photodynamic therapy (PDT). It involves the use of a light sensitive compound, called a photodynamic agent (PDA), and light exposure to kill cancerous cells. PDAs can include a porphyrin, chlorin, or bacteriochlorin backbone with varying substituents. Our experiment sought to test the effectiveness of three porphyrins, H2TTP-DIPA, ZnTTP-DIPA, and GaNO31- TTP-DIPA, at different concentrations. All three porphyrins had the same substituents on the porphyrin ring. They were distinguished by the exclusion or inclusion of a metal chelated in the center of the porphyrin rather than the typical hydrogens. They were compared to the PDA Foscan, which works at a very low concentration. They were tested on the A549 non-small cell lung cancer cell line using MTT viability assays. Of the three porphyrins only ZnTTP-DIPA effectively killed cells at a low enough concentration for further testing. Confocal Microscopy was undertaken to determine possible localization of the ZnTTP-DIPA and Foscan, which was once again used as a control. Three organelle trackers (mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi apparatus) were used as comparisons for the compounds. Correlations were found between Foscan and an ER tracker, suggesting Foscan localizes to the ER. No correlations were found between ZnTTP-DIPA and the trackers used.

Testing of novel photodynamic agents for viability and localization in photodynamic therapy

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.