Tailoring Porphyrin Conjugation for Nanoassembly-Driven Phototheranostic Properties

Lipoprotein mimetic nanostructures, which consist of an amphiphilic lipid shell, a hydrophobic core, and an apolipoprotein mimetic peptide, serve as a versatile platform for the design of drug delivery vehicles as well as the investigation of supramolecular assemblies. Porphyrin incorporation into biomimetic lipoproteins allows one to take advantage of the inherent multimodal photophysical properties of porphyrin, yielding various fluorescence, photoacoustic as well as photodynamic agents. To facilitate their incorporation into a lipoprotein structure, porphyrins have been conjugated through a variety of strategies. However, the effects of the conjugate structure on the associated nanoparticle’s phototherapeutic properties warrants further investigation. Herein, we systemically investigated the effects of two widely utilized porphyrin conjugates – oleylamide and lipid, on biophotonic properties of their resultant porphyrin-lipoprotein nanoparticles in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, we demonstrated that ...