Anti-Tumor Efficacy of Photodynamic Therapy of Solid Tumors in Laboratory Animals with Guanidine and Biguanidine Derivatives of Chlorine e6.

We evaluated antitumor efficacy of photodynamic therapy of murine Ehrlich carcinoma and rat sarcoma M-1 with new photosensitizers 131-N-(4-aminobutyl)amydo chlorine e6 (1), 132-(5-guanidylbutanamido)-chlorine e6 (2), and 132-(5-biguanidylbutanamido)-chlorine e6 (3). The inhibiting effect of the photodynamic therapy was evaluated by the following parameters: tumor growth inhibition, complete regression of the tumors, and absolute growth rate of the tumor nodes in animals with the continued neoplasia growth. The criterion of cure was the absence of tumors up to 90 days after the therapy. It is shown that the studied photosensitizers have high antitumor activity in the photodynamic therapy of the Ehrlich carcinoma and sarcoma M-1.

Photodynamic Therapy of Melanoma B16 with Chlorin E6 Conjugated with a PSMA-Ligand.

The efficacy of a new photosensitizer of chlorin E6 conjugated with a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) in photodynamic therapy of murine melanoma B16 was studied in in vivo experiments. The dynamics of photosensitizer accumulation in the tumor and surrounding tissues was evaluated and antitumor efficacy of photodynamic therapy was assessed by parameters of regression and morphological characteristics of experimental transplanted melanoma B16. The inhibitory effect of photodynamic therapy on melanoma was evaluated by complete regression of the tumor, absolute tumor growth coefficient in animals with continuation of tumor growth, and the increase in life span in comparison with the control; the criterion of cure was the absence of signs of tumor recurrence in mice within 90 days after therapy. The therapeutic potential of photodynamic therapy was determined by devitalization of tumor cells (histological examination of the zones of laser exposure on day 21 after treatment). The photosensitizer with PSMA-ligand exhibited high antitumor activity in photodynamic therapy for melanoma B16. Photodynamic therapy carried out at the optimum time after photosensitizer injection with experimentally determined parameters of laser exposure allows achieving the maximum inhibitory effect on melanoma. Pathomorphological study in the zones of exposure detected no survived tumor cells.

Lipid monolayer as a simple model membrane for comparative assessment of the photodynamic therapy photosensitizer efficiency via macroscopic measurements.

Cellular membrane is one of the main targets of photodynamic therapy. Its high complexity has led to the study of the efficiency of photosensitizers on artificial lipid systems mimicking membranes. However, the preliminary analysis of this efficiency remains limited due to difficulty of the model construction and/or implementation of the required measurement techniques. Hereby, we propose a quite simple way for the rapid comparative assessment of novel photosensitizers in terms of membrane photodegradation, based on simple and fast measurements, such as wetting angle and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy. As a proof of concept, we applied this methodology to two bacteriopurpurinimide derivatives. We have shown in particular that such complementary techniques can be employed not only for the multiparametric monitoring of the kinetics of the photodegradation, but also for the comparison of the damaging efficiency of the photosensitizers in the lipid structures as well.

Synthesis and characterization of bacteriochlorin loaded magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) for personalized MRI guided photosensitizers delivery to tumor.

HYPOTHESIS: Hydrophobic bacteriochlorin based photosensitizer (PS) can be effectively immobilized on MNP covered by human serum albumin (HSA). PS loading into MNP protein shell allows solubilizing PS in water solution without altering its photodynamic activity. MNP@PS can serve as diagnostic tool for tracking PS delivery to tumor tissues by MRI. EXPERIMENTS: Immobilization on MNP-HSA-PEG was performed by adding PS solution in organic solvents with further purification. MNP@PS were characterized by DLS, HAADF STEM and AFM. Absorbance and fluorescence measurements were used to assess PS photophysical properties before and after immobilization. MNP@PS internalization into CT26 cells was investigated by confocal microscopy in vitro and MRI/IVIS were used for tracking MNP@PS delivery to tumors in vivo. FINDINGS: MNP@PS complexes were stable in water solution and retained PS photophysical activity. The length of side chain affected MNP@PS size, loading capacity and cell internalization. In vitro testing demonstrated MNP@PS delivery to cancer cells followed by photoinduced toxicity. In vivo studies confirmed that as-synthetized complexes can be used for MRI tracking over drug accumulation in tumors.

[Primary screening of substances-photosensibilizers of the bacteriochlorin range for photodynamic therapy of malignant neoplasms]. / Pervichnyi skrining substantsii-fotosensibilizatorov bakteriokhlorinovogo riada dlia fotodinamicheskoi terapii zlokachestvennykh novoobrazovanii.

This paper presents a primary screening of bacteriochlorin-type compounds with aminoamide, propyl and carbohydrate substituents aimed for development a new generation photosensitizers (PS) for photodynamic therapy of malignant tumors. Absorption and fluorescence spectral characteristics of the compounds, their storage stability in solutions under dark conditions and light exposure, photo-induced and dark cytotoxicity against human HEp2 tumor cells have been studied. It has been shown that the dyes with aminoamide substituents have an absorbtion maximum at 754±2 nm in the long wavelength region and they are not stable during storage (the specific fluorescence intensity decreased by 33-56% during 24 hours). The long wavelength region absorption of the propyl and carbohydrate substituted compounds varied in the range 780-831 nm, they were stable in solutions during storage and under light irradiation. Except the dye with a carbohydrate residue in the exocycle E, all PS exhibited the high photo-induced activity and low level of the dark cytotoxicity. The highest photo-induced cytotoxicity was observed for compounds with aminoamide substituents inthe macrocyclic ring (IC 50 values ranged from 17 nM to49 nM after 2 hour incubation with PS followed by exposure to the 10 J/cm 2 dose of red light). Taking into account the totality of the physico-chemical and biological properties, as well as manufacturability of production, O-propyloxime-N-propoxybacteriopurinimide methyl ester was chosen as the most promising candidate compound for further investigations.

Development of bacteriochlorophyll a-based near-infrared photosensitizers conjugated to gold nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy of cancer.

We report the synthesis and characterization of a new sulfur-containing derivative of bacteriochlorophyll a. The latter was isolated from biomass of the nonsulfur purple bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus strain B10. The developed photosensitizer is N-aminobacteriopurpurinimide with an exocyclic amino group acylated with a lipoic acid moiety, which is a biogenic substance that acts as a cofactor of the pyruvate dehydrogenase and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes in the body. The disulfide moiety of lipoic acid confers the compound aurophilicity, thus allowing its conjugation with gold nanoparticles (NP-Au) via S-Au bonds. The shape and the size of the resulting nanoconjugate with immobilized photosensitizer (PS-Au) were assessed by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The conjugated nanoparticles are spherical with hydrodynamic diameter of 100-110 nm. The PS-Au conjugate absorbs light at 824 nm and emits strong fluorescence at 830 nm, which allowed in vivo study of its dynamic biodistribution in rats bearing sarcoma M-1. Compared to the free photosensitizer, PS loaded on the gold nanoparticles (PS-Au) showed extended circulation time in the blood and enhanced tumor uptake due to nonspecific passive targeting when the drug accumulates in tumor sites through the leaky tumor neovasculature and does not return to the circulation.

Interaction with serum albumin as a factor of the photodynamic efficacy of novel bacteriopurpurinimide derivatives.

Optimization of the chemical structure of antitumor photosensitizers (PSs) is aimed at increasing their affinity to a transport protein, albumin and irreversible light-induced tumor cell damage. Bacteriopurpurinimide derivatives are promising PSs thanks to their ability to absorb light in the near infrared spectral region. Using spectrophotometry, we show that two new bacteriopurpurinimide derivatives with different substituents at the N atoms of the imide exocycle and the pyrrole ring A are capable of forming non-covalent complexes with human serum albumin (HSA). The association constant (calculated with the Benesi-Hildebrand equation) for N-ethoxybacteriopurpurinimide ethyloxime (compound 1) is higher than that for the methyl ether of methoxybacteriopurpurinimide (compound 2) (1.18×10(5) M-1 vs. 1.26×10(4) M(-1), respectively). Molecular modeling provides details of the atomic interactions between 1 and 2 and amino acid residues in the FA1 binding site of HSA. The ethoxy group stabilizes the position of 1 within this site due to hydrophobic interaction with the protein. The higher affinity of 1 for HSA makes this compound more potent than 2 in photodynamic therapy for cultured human colon carcinoma cells. Photoactivation of 1 and 2 in cells induces rapid (within a few minutes of irradiation) necrosis. This mechanism of cell death may be efficient for eliminating tumors resistant to other therapies.

Conjugates of boron clusters with derivatives of natural chlorin and bacteriochlorin.

Conjugates of bacteriochlorin p and chlorin e(6) with cobalt bis(dicarbollide) anion [3,3'-Co(1,2-C(2)B(9)H(11))(2)](-) were synthesized using different synthetic approaches. The boronated bacteriochlorin p was prepared by reaction of bacteriochlorin N-amino cycloimide with, bis(dicarbollide)-based carboxylic acid. The boronated chlorin e(6) conjugates were obtained by both "click reaction" of containing alkyne group chlorine with azide derivative of cobaltacarborane and reaction of chorin-based amines with cyclic oxonium derivative of cobalt bis(dicarbollide).

[New photosensitizers of bacteriochlorin series for photodynamic cancer therapy]. / Novye fotosensibilizatory bakteriokhlorinovogo riada dlia fotodinamicheskoi terapii raka.

New derivatives of bacteriochlorophyll a bearing an extra glutarimide exocycle were synthesized, and their reactivity was studied. Acetyl group in 3-acetyl-2,7,12,18-tetramethyl-8-ethyl-13,15- dicarboxy-17-carboxyethyl-7,8,17,18-tetrahydroporphyrin (bacteriochlorin p) was chemically modified into alpha-hydroxyethyl and vinyl groups. A simple method of preparation of vinylbacteriopurpurin esters under the catalysis by p-toluenesulfonic acid was proposed. The resulting compounds exhibit a high adsorption in the visible and near IR areas of electronic spectra, a reasonable stability, and amphiphilic properties and, therefore, may be regarded as promising photosensitizers for the photodynamic cancer therapy.

[The stimulation of crystalline lens regeneration in adult tritons]. / Stimuliatsiia regeneratsii khrustalika u vzroslykh tritonov.

The lens removal from the newt eye stimulates regeneration of the latter from the dorsal iris cells. We have undertaken an attempt to stimulate lens regeneration from teh ventral iris pigmented cells by growth factors: basic and acidic forms of the fibroblast growth factor and the epidermal growth factor. In the presence of the growth factors, the mitotic activity of the ventral iris cells increased 1.5-to 3-fold on the 30th (18) and 70th (58) days after the operation (implantation). Depigmentation of the pupal margin and separation of the ventral iris sheets was observed on the 70th day in teh same animals, what was considered as stage III of lens regeneration. No such stimulation of proliferation was observed in the dorsal iris, but by the 70th day additional lenses have been found to form from the dorsal iris cells.