G-quadruplex DNA/protoporphyrin IX-based synergistic platform for targeted photodynamic cancer therapy

• An efficient photodynamic therapy (PDT) is constructed based on T30695/PPIX nanoassemblies.
• T30695 acts as carrier of PPIX, and afford the system cancer cell target ability.
• This strategy is simple in design and displays cooperative properties.
• This strategy largely address the problems of PPIX in PDT process.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an emerging technique to induce cancer cell death. However, the tumor specificity, cellular uptake and biodistribution of many photosensitizers urgently need to be improved. In this regard, we show here that the integrated nanoassemblies based on G-quadruplex DNAs (GQDs)/protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) can serve as a synergistic platform for targeted high-performance PDT. In the nanoassemblies, GQDs function as carriers of sensitiser PPIX and confers the system cancer cell targeting ability. After nucleolin-mediated efficient binding and cellular uptake of GQDs/PPIX assemblies, the strong red fluorescence of GQDs/PPIX complex provides a powerful tool for biological imaging. Moreover, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by GQDs/PPIX under light illumination can effectively kill cancer cells. The present approach is simply composed by DNA and photosensitizers, thereby avoiding any complicated and time-consuming covalent modification or chemical labeling procedure.

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