Water-soluble soft nano-colloid for drug delivery

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been proved to be highly effective in the treatment of different types of cancer. A novel nano-colloid based drug carrier for PDT of elsinochrome A (EA), a hydrophobic photosensitizer. was prepared using single 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) which is traditionally only used as surface modification reagent. The resulting nano-colloid immobilized photosensitizers provide good water solubility and photostability. In addition, EANC preserve the key step of photogeneration of singlet oxygen, necessary for photodynamic action. Moreover, significant damage to calf thymus DNA was observed upon irradiation with light. Thus, the potential of using nano-colloid as drug carriers for photodynamic therapy has been demonstrated. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.