Photodynamic therapy activity of new porphyrin-xylan-coated silica nanoparticles in a human colorectal cancer in vivo model

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) using porphyrins has been approved in treatment of several solid tumors thanks to generation of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, low physiological solubility and lack of selectivity towards tumors sites are the main limitations of their clinical use. Nanoparticles are able to spontaneously accumulate in solid tumors through the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect due to leaky vasculature, poor lymphatic drainage and increased vessel permeability. Herein, we demonstrated added value of nanoparticles vectorization strategy on anticancer efficacy of the 5-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin (TPPOH). Using the 80 nm silica nanoparticles (SNPs) coated with xylan-TPPOH conjugate (TPPOH-X), we highlighted on HT-29 tumor-bearing nude mice, a high anticancer efficacy of TPPOH-X SNPs compared to TPPOH free.