Fluoride-Free Synthesis of 2D Titanium Carbide (MXenes) Assisted by scCO2 -Based Ternary Solution.

2D MXene-Ti3 C2 Tx holds great promise in various electronic applications, especially for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding devices and supercapacitors. Ti3 C2 Tx synthesis typically involves the use of hazardous fluorine-containing chemicals that can result in the formation of inert fluoride functional groups on the surface of Ti3 C2 Tx , severely degrading its properties and posing a threat to the performance of electron transfer among electrical devices. Herein, a supercritical carbon dioxide-based ternary solution (scCO2 /DMSO/HCl) to produce fluoride-free Ti3 C2 Tx in mild conditions (via 0.5 m HCl, 20 MPa, 32 °C) is reported. The fluorine-free Ti3 C2 Tx films electrode presents an excellent gravimetric capacitance of 320 F g-1 at 2 mV s-1 in 1 m H2 SO4 . Besides, it is demonstrated that fluorine-free Ti3 C2 Tx films exhibit outstanding EMI shielding efficiency of 53.12 dB at 2.5 µm thickness. The findings offer a mild and practical approach to producing fluoride-free Ti3 C2 Tx and open opportunities for exploring MXenes' potential applications in various fields.

Transition Metal (Molybdenum)-Doped Drug-like Conformational Nanoarchitectonics with Altered Valence States (Mn2+/Mn4+ and Mo5+/Mo6+) for Augmented Cancer Theranostics.

Despite the advancements in cancer therapy, delivering active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) using nanoparticles remains challenging due to the failed conveyance of the required drug payload, poor targeting ability, and poor biodistribution, hampering their clinical translation. Recently, the appropriate design of materials with intrinsic therapeutic functionalities has garnered enormous interest in the development of various intelligent therapeutic nanoplatforms. In this study, we demonstrate the fabrication of transition metal (molybdenum, Mo)-doped manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanoarchitectures, exhibiting diagnostic (magnetic resonance imaging, MRI) and therapeutic (chemodynamic therapy, CDT) functionalities. The facile hydrothermal approach-assisted Mo-doped MnO2 flower-like nanostructures offered tailorable morphologies in altered dimensions, precise therapeutic effects, exceptional biocompatibility, and biodegradability in the tumor microenvironment. The resultant defects due to doped Mo species exhibited peroxidase and oxidase activities, improving glutathione (GSH) oxidation. The two sets of variable valence metal ion pairs (Mn2+/Mn4+ and Mo5+/Mo6+) and their interplay could substantially improve the Fenton-like reaction and generate toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH), thus achieving CDT-assisted antitumor effects. As inherent T1-MRI agents, these MnO2 nanoparticles displayed excellent MRI efficacy in vitro. Together, we believe that these conformational Mo-doped MnO2 nanoarchitectures with two pairs of variable valence states could potentiate drugless therapy in pharmaceutics.

Biosensing of Cysteine through the Induction of Oxygen Vacancies in a Cu/Zr Heterostructure Prepared by Supercritical Antisolvent Technique.

There has been a growing emphasis on facile preparation of binary heterogeneous composite materials. Leveraging the eco-friendly efficiency of supercritical CO2 technology, we achieved precise control over the influencing factors of mass transfer, enabling the accurate modulation of the resulting product morphology and properties. In the current study, CuxO/ZrOy composite materials were prepared using this technology and calcined to obtain electrode materials for the detection of cysteine (Cys). Essential comprehensive characterization techniques were employed to elucidate the heterojunction. The resulting electrode demonstrated a linear response to Cys within a concentration range of 0.5 nM to 1 µM, featuring a high sensitivity of 1035 µA·cm-2·µM-1 and a low detection limit of 97.3 nM. Thus, establishing a novel avenue for nonenzyme-based electrochemical sensors tailored for biologically active Cys detection through the implementation of a heterogeneous structure.

Advances in hybridized nanoarchitectures for improved oro-dental health.

On a global note, oral health plays a critical role in improving the overall human health. In this vein, dental-related issues with dentin exposure often facilitate the risk of developing various oral-related diseases in gums and teeth. Several oral-based ailments include gums-associated (gingivitis or periodontitis), tooth-based (dental caries, root infection, enamel erosion, and edentulous or total tooth loss), as well as miscellaneous diseases in the buccal or oral cavity (bad breath, mouth sores, and oral cancer). Although established conventional treatment modalities have been available to improve oral health, these therapeutic options suffer from several limitations, such as fail to eradicate bacterial biofilms, deprived regeneration of dental pulp cells, and poor remineralization of teeth, resulting in dental emergencies. To this end, the advent of nanotechnology has resulted in the development of various innovative nanoarchitectured composites from diverse sources. This review presents a comprehensive overview of different nanoarchitectured composites for improving overall oral health. Initially, we emphasize various oral-related diseases, providing detailed pathological circumstances and their effects on human health along with deficiencies of the conventional therapeutic modalities. Further, the importance of various nanostructured components is emphasized, highlighting their predominant actions in solving crucial dental issues, such as anti-bacterial, remineralization, and tissue regeneration abilities. In addition to an emphasis on the synthesis of different nanostructures, various nano-therapeutic solutions from diverse sources are discussed, including natural (plant, animal, and marine)-based components and other synthetic (organic- and inorganic-) architectures, as well as their composites for improving oral health. Finally, we summarize the article with an interesting outlook on overcoming the challenges of translating these innovative platforms to clinics.

Observing the Evolution of Metal Oxides in Liquids.

Metal oxides with diverse compositions and structures have garnered considerable interest from researchers in various reactions, which benefits from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in determining their morphologies, phase, structural and chemical information. Recent breakthroughs have made liquid-phase TEM a promising imaging platform for tracking the dynamic structure, morphology, and composition evolution of metal oxides in solution under work conditions. Herein, this review introduces the recent advances in liquid cells, especially closed liquid cell chips. Subsequently, the recent progress including particle growth, phase transformation, self-assembly, core-shell nanostructure growth, and chemical etching are introduced. With the late technical advances in TEM and liquid cells, liquid-phase TEM is used to characterize many fundamental processes of metal oxides for CO2 reduction and water-splitting reactions. Finally, the outlook and challenges in this research field are discussed. It is believed this compilation inspires and stimulates more efforts in developing and utilizing in situ liquid-phase TEM for metal oxides at the atomic scale for different applications.

Nanoarchitectured prototypes of mesoporous silica nanoparticles for innovative biomedical applications.

Despite exceptional morphological and physicochemical attributes, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are often employed as carriers or vectors. Moreover, these conventional MSNs often suffer from various limitations in biomedicine, such as reduced drug encapsulation efficacy, deprived compatibility, and poor degradability, resulting in poor therapeutic outcomes. To address these limitations, several modifications have been corroborated to fabricating hierarchically-engineered MSNs in terms of tuning the pore sizes, modifying the surfaces, and engineering of siliceous networks. Interestingly, the further advancements of engineered MSNs lead to the generation of highly complex and nature-mimicking structures, such as Janus-type, multi-podal, and flower-like architectures, as well as streamlined tadpole-like nanomotors. In this review, we present explicit discussions relevant to these advanced hierarchical architectures in different fields of biomedicine, including drug delivery, bioimaging, tissue engineering, and miscellaneous applications, such as photoluminescence, artificial enzymes, peptide enrichment, DNA detection, and biosensing, among others. Initially, we give a brief overview of diverse, innovative stimuli-responsive (pH, light, ultrasound, and thermos)- and targeted drug delivery strategies, along with discussions on recent advancements in cancer immune therapy and applicability of advanced MSNs in other ailments related to cardiac, vascular, and nervous systems, as well as diabetes. Then, we provide initiatives taken so far in clinical translation of various silica-based materials and their scope towards clinical translation. Finally, we summarize the review with interesting perspectives on lessons learned in exploring the biomedical applications of advanced MSNs and further requirements to be explored.

Antibody and Cellular-Based Therapies for Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Mechanisms and Prospects.

BACKGROUND: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in children. Despite enormous efforts to treat ALL over the past decade, the intensity of conventional chemotherapeutic strategies has reached the tolerance limit. Among various recently developed therapeutic approaches, antibody and cellular-based therapies showed less toxicity and better curative effect. SUMMARY: Due to advanced mechanistic actions, these innovative therapies have provided durable responses and long-term survival in eradicating pediatric ALL, especially patients with refractory/relapsed ALL. Owing to these aspects, herein, we emphasize the mechanisms of action and application status of antibodies targeting tumor antigens, antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies, and chimeric antigen receptor T cells. KEY MESSAGES: The significant prospects and challenges are discussed, highlighting the innovative immunotherapies to deal with ALL. Together, this review will summarize the progress of antibody and cellular-based therapies for pediatric ALL, which may promote further research on antibody-based biopharmaceutics.

Engineered Mesoporous Silica-Based Core-Shell Nanoarchitectures for Synergistic Chemo-Photodynamic Therapies.

Combinatorial therapies have garnered enormous interest from researchers in efficiently devastating malignant tumors through synergistic effects. To explore the combinatorial approach, multiple therapeutic agents are typically loaded in the delivery vehicles, controlling their release profiles and executing subsequent therapeutic purposes. Herein, we report the fabrication of core (silica)-shell (mesoporous silica nanoparticles, MSNs) architectures to deliver methylene blue (MB) and cupric doxorubicin (Dox) as model drugs for synergistic photodynamic therapy (PDT), chemotherapy, and chemodynamic therapy (CDT). MB, as the photosensitizer, is initially loaded and stabilized in the silica core for efficient singlet oxygen generation under light irradiation towards PDT. The most outside shell with imidazole silane-modified MSNs is immobilized with a chemotherapeutic agent of Dox molecules through the metal (Copper, Cu)-ligand coordination interactions, achieving the pH-sensitive release and triggering the production of intracellular hydrogen peroxide and subsequent Fenton-like reaction-assisted Cu-catalyzed free radicals for CDT. Further, the designed architectures are systematically characterized using various physicochemical characterization techniques and demonstrate the potent anti-cancer efficacy against skin melanoma. Together our results demonstrated that the MSNs-based core-shell nanoarchitectures have great potential as an effective strategy in synergistically ablating cancer through chemo-, chemodynamic, and photodynamic therapies.

Three-Dimensional Bioprinting of Decellularized Extracellular Matrix-Based Bioinks for Tissue Engineering.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is one of the most promising additive manufacturing technologies for fabricating various biomimetic architectures of tissues and organs. In this context, the bioink, a critical element for biofabrication, is a mixture of biomaterials and living cells used in 3D printing to create cell-laden structures. Recently, decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM)-based bioinks derived from natural tissues have garnered enormous attention from researchers due to their unique and complex biochemical properties. This review initially presents the details of the natural ECM and its role in cell growth and metabolism. Further, we briefly emphasize the commonly used decellularization treatment procedures and subsequent evaluations for the quality control of the dECM. In addition, we summarize some of the common bioink preparation strategies, the 3D bioprinting approaches, and the applicability of 3D-printed dECM bioinks to tissue engineering. Finally, we present some of the challenges in this field and the prospects for future development.

Hollow Tobacco Mosaic Virus Coat Protein Assisted Self-Assembly of One-Dimensional Nanoarchitectures.

Herein, an efficient strategy to fabricate well-organized one-dimensional (1D) inorganic nanostructures is demonstrated by utilizing the hollow tobacco mosaic virus coat protein (TMVCP) as a restrictive template. Considering the advantages of the unique hollow structure and the dynamic self-assembly attribute of TMVCP, foreign nano-objects are successfully encapsulated and conveniently assembled into highly organized 1D chainlike structures in the cavity of the TMVCP multimer (TMV disk). Different kinds of functional nanoparticles, such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and silver sulfide quantum dots (Ag2S QDs), are used to demonstrate the successful construction of ordered 1D nanochains in high yields. Notably, binary nanochains of such different kinds of nanoparticles are also constructed through co-assembling the TMV disk-coated AuNPs and Ag2S QDs. Further, the TMV-assisted AuNP nanochains are grown into the 1D nanowires through in situ Au deposition owing to the spatial confinement of the TMVCP cavity. Together, our findings indicate that the TMV-assisted self-assembly approach, resulting in higher yields and better controllability over the other reported studies based on directly mineralizing the metal architectures in the TMV nanorods, provides enormous potential toward the fabrication of highly complex hybrid-metal nanostructures.

Role of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) in fabrication of inorganic-based materials: a green and unique route.

In recent times, the supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) process has attracted increasing attention in fabricating diverse materials due to the attractive features of environmentally benign nature and economically promising character. Owing to these unique characteristics and high-penetrability, as well as diffusivity conditions of scCO2, this high-pressure technology, with mild operation conditions, cost-effective, and non-toxic, among others, is often applied to fabricate various organic and inorganic-based materials, resulting in the unique crystal architectures (amorphous, crystalline, and heterojunction), tunable architectures (nanoparticles, nanosheets, and aerogels) for diverse applications. In this review, we give an emphasis on the fabrication of various inorganic-based materials, highlighting the recent research on the driving factors for improving the quality of fabrication in scCO2, procedures for production and dispersion in scCO2, as well as common indicators utilized to assess quality and processing ability of materials. Next, we highlight the effects of specific properties of scCO2 towards synthesizing the highly functional inorganic-based nanomaterials. Finally, we summarize this compilation with interesting perspectives, aiming to arouse a more comprehensive utilization of scCO2 to broaden the horizon in exploring the green/eco-friendly processing of such versatile inorganic-based materials. Together, we firmly believe that this compilation endeavors to disclose the latent capability and universal prevalence of scCO2 in the synthesis and processing of inorganic-based materials.

Dual Functional Modification of Alkaline Amino Acids Induces the Self-Assembly of Cylinder-Like Tobacco Mosaic Virus Coat Proteins into Gear-Like Architectures.

Herein, the assembly of 3D uniform gear-like architectures is demonstrated with a tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) disk as a building block. In this context, the intrinsic behavior of the TMV disk that promotes its assembly into nanotubes is altered by a synergistic effect of dual functional modifications at the 53rd arginine mutation and the introduction of lysine groups in the periphery at 1st and 158th positions of the TMV disk, which results in the formation of 3D gear-like superstructures. Therein, the 53rd arginine moiety significantly strengthens the linkage between TMV disks in the alkaline environment through hydrogen bond interactions. The charge of lysine-modified lateral surfaces is partially neutralized in the alkaline solution, which induces the TMV disk to form a gear-like architecture to maintain its structural stability by exploiting the electrostatic repulsion between neighboring TMV disks. This study not only provides explicit evidence regarding the molecular-level understanding of how the modification of site-specific amino acid affects the assembly of resultant superstructures but also encourages the fabrication of functional protein-based nanoarchitectures.

Highly Porous Microcarriers for Minimally Invasive In Situ Skeletal Muscle Cell Delivery.

Microscale cell carriers have recently garnered enormous interest in repairing tissue defects by avoiding substantial open surgeries using implants for tissue regeneration. In this study, the highly open porous microspheres (HOPMs) are fabricated using a microfluidic technique for harboring proliferating skeletal myoblasts and evaluating their feasibility toward cell delivery application in situ. These biocompatible HOPMs with particle sizes of 280-370 µm possess open pores of 10-80 µm and interconnected paths. Such structure of the HOPMs conveniently provide a favorable microenvironment, where the cells are closely arranged in elongated shapes with the deposited extracellular matrix, facilitating cell adhesion and proliferation, as well as augmented myogenic differentiation. Furthermore, in vivo results in mice confirm improved cell retention and vascularization, as well as partial myoblast differentiation. These modular cell-laden microcarriers potentially allow for in situ tissue construction after minimally invasive delivery providing a convenient means for regeneration medicine.

Self-Assembly of Functional Nucleic Acid-Based Colorimetric Competition Assay for the Detection of Immunoglobulin E.

In this work, we have developed a simple and rapid colorimetric assay for the detection of immunoglobulin E (IgE) using functional nucleic acids (FNAs) and a solid-phase competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The FNAs including aptamer of recombinant IgE, G-quadruplex and its complementary fragments were immobilized on 96-well microplates to achieve recognition and detection of IgE in biological samples. The G-quadruplex DNAzyme catalyzed 2,2'-Azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS)-hemin-H2O2 system was used to improve the sensitivity of colorimetric assay. In the presence of IgE, the hairpin structure and G-quadruplex would be destroyed, resulting in the inactivation of DNAzyme and subsequent reduction of its absorbance. This cost-effective approach detected IgE in the linear range from 5.0 pg/mL to 500 ng/mL, with the limit of detection (LOD) of 2.0 pg/mL, under optimal conditions. Moreover, the developed method was successfully applied to the rapid detection of IgE in human urine, indicating a great potentiality of this approach in clinical diagnosis and other biomedical applications.

Multi-Organs-on-Chips: Towards Long-Term Biomedical Investigations.

With advantageous features such as minimizing the cost, time, and sample size requirements, organ-on-a-chip (OOC) systems have garnered enormous interest from researchers for their ability for real-time monitoring of physical parameters by mimicking the in vivo microenvironment and the precise responses of xenobiotics, i.e., drug efficacy and toxicity over conventional two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures, as well as animal models. Recent advancements of OOC systems have evidenced the fabrication of 'multi-organ-on-chip' (MOC) models, which connect separated organ chambers together to resemble an ideal pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) model for monitoring the complex interactions between multiple organs and the resultant dynamic responses of multiple organs to pharmaceutical compounds. Numerous varieties of MOC systems have been proposed, mainly focusing on the construction of these multi-organ models, while there are only few studies on how to realize continual, automated, and stable testing, which still remains a significant challenge in the development process of MOCs. Herein, this review emphasizes the recent advancements in realizing long-term testing of MOCs to promote their capability for real-time monitoring of multi-organ interactions and chronic cellular reactions more accurately and steadily over the available chip models. Efforts in this field are still ongoing for better performance in the assessment of preclinical attributes for a new chemical entity. Further, we give a brief overview on the various biomedical applications of long-term testing in MOCs, including several proposed applications and their potential utilization in the future. Finally, we summarize with perspectives.

Dual-Responsive Alginate Hydrogels for Controlled Release of Therapeutics.

In this work, with the drug oxytetracycline (OTC) released, cell cytotoxicity and antimicrobial studies of dual-responsive sodium alginate and N-Isopropylacrylamide hydrogels (SA/pNIPAAm) with enclosed OTC were investigated. The molecular OTC release was explored with different acid-base conditions and temperature conditions. In order to characterize cell cytotoxicity and antimicrobial efficacy, time-dependent OTC release analysis of different acid-base conditions was performed in SA/pNIPAAm hydrogels. OTC@SA/pNIPAAm hydrogels showed excellent time-dependent antimicrobial efficacy, in which the IC50 values were 50.11 µg mL-1, 34.27 µg mL-1, and 22.39 µg mL-1 among three consecutive days, respectively. Meanwhile, the human cells showed excellent viability at the IC50 dosage of OTC@SA/pNIPAAm (50.11 µg mL-1). OTC@SA/pNIPAAm performed in this study indicated that SA/pNIPAAm may serve as drug carriers for sustainable release at a specific concentration and for being employed as substrates for decreasing drug toxicity. Besides, pH-responsive and thermos-responsive SA/pNIPAAm may lead to the better selectivity of drug release in the ideal location or site. Finally, the results demonstrate that the designed, dual-responsive, biocompatible OTC@SA/pNIPAAm hydrogels showed excellent antimicrobial efficacy and may potentially be found to have enormous applicability in the field of pharmaceutics.

Poly-L-ornithine/fucoidan-coated calcium carbonate microparticles by layer-by-layer self-assembly technique for cancer theranostics.

Recently, the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technology has attracted the enormous interest of researchers in synthesizing various pharmaceutical dosage forms. Herewith, we designed a biocompatible drug delivery system containing the calcium carbonate microparticles (CaCO3 MPs) that coated with the alternatively charged polyelectrolytes, i.e., poly-L-ornithine (PLO)/fucoidan by LbL self-assembly process (LbL MPs). Upon coating with the polyelectrolytes, the mean particle size of MPs obtained from SEM observations increased from 1.91 to 2.03 µm, and the surface of LbL MPs was smoothened compared to naked CaCO3 MPs. In addition, the reversible zeta potential changes have confirmed the accomplishment of layer upon a layer assembly. To evaluate the efficiency of cancer therapeutics, we loaded doxorubicin (Dox) in the LbL MPs, which resulted in high (69.7%) drug encapsulation efficiency. The controlled release of Dox resulted in the significant antiproliferative efficiency in breast cancer cell line (MCF-7 cells), demonstrating the potential of applying this innovative drug delivery system in the biomedical field.

Bacterial magnetosomes as an efficient gene delivery platform for cancer theranostics.

BACKGROUND: Gene therapy has gained an increasing interest in its anti-tumor efficiency. However, numerous efforts are required to promote them to clinics. In this study, a novel and efficient delivery platform based on bacterial magnetosomes (BMs) were developed, and the efficiency of BMs in delivering small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) as well as antiproliferative effects in vitro were investigated. RESULTS: Initially, we optimized the nitrogen/phosphate ratio and the BMs/siRNA mass ratio as 20 and 1:2, respectively, to prepare the BMs-PEI-siRNA composites. Furthermore, the prepared nanoconjugates were systematically characterized. The dynamic light scattering measurements indicated that the particle size and the zeta potential of BMs-PEI-siRNA are 196.5 nm and 49.5 ± 3.77 mV, respectively, which are optimum for cell internalization. Moreover, the confocal laser scanning microscope observations showed that these composites were at a proximity to the nucleus and led to an effective silencing effect. BMs-PEI-siRNA composites efficiently inhibited the growth of HeLa cells in a dose-as well as time-dependent manner. Eventually, a dual stain assay using acridine orange/ethidium bromide, revealed that these nanocomposites induced late apoptosis in cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: A novel and efficient gene delivery system based on BMs was successfully produced for cancer therapy, and these innovative carriers will potentially find widespread applications in the pharmaceutical field.

pH-Triggered Controllable Release of Silver-Indole-3 Acetic Acid Complexes from Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (IBN-4) for Effectively Killing Malignant Bacteria.

An efficient approach for the antimicrobial agent delivery specifically at acidic pH has been proposed. At the outset, functionalized mesoporous nanoparticles (NPs) were examined to verify the success of synthesis while considering the structural properties by various characterizations. The NPs were immobilized with silver-indole-3 acetic acid hydrazide (IAAH-Ag) complexes via a pH-sensitive hydrazone bond, which functioned as a model drug. When the transitional metal complexes with IBN-4-IAAH-Ag were exposed to acidic pH (near pH 5.0), the silver ions were preferentially released (70%) in a controlled manner up to 12 h by pH-sensitive denial of hydrazone bonds. In contrary, a low drug release (about 25%) was seen in physiological buffer (pH 7.4) demonstrating the pH sensitive release of this drug. Furthermore, the antibacterial efficacy of this unique structured sample was tested against the planktonic cells and biofilms of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria with field emission scanning electron microscope in turn measuring the growth curves, formation of lethal reactive oxygen species, protein leakage, and DNA damage. The synthesized pH-sensitive IAAH-Ag complex was found to have high antimicrobial efficacy against multidrug resistant clinical isolates both in planktonic and biofilm states. Going forward, the synthesized nanoconjugates proved a good in vivo efficacy in treating the bacterial infection of mice. These new metal complex-conjugated NPs through a pH-sensitive hydrazone bond opened up a new avenue for the design and synthesis of the next generation antibacterial agents, which would act as an alternative to antibiotics.

Encapsulation of palladium porphyrin photosensitizer in layered metal oxide nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy against skin melanoma.

We designed a biodegradable nanocarrier of layered double hydroxide (LDH) for photodynamic therapy (PDT) based on the intercalation of a palladium porphyrin photosensitizer (PdTCPP) in the gallery of LDH for melanoma theragnosis. Physical and chemical characterizations have demonstrated the photosensitizer was stable in the layered structures. In addition, the synthesized nanocomposites rendered extremely efficacious therapy in the B16F10 melanoma cell line by improving the solubility of the hydrophobic PdTCPP photosensitizer. The detection of singlet oxygen generation under irradiation at the excitation wavelength of a 532 nm laser was indeed impressive. Furthermore, the in vivo results using a tumour xenograft model in mice indicated the apparent absence of body weight loss and relative organ weight variation to the liver and kidney demonstrated that the nanocomposites were biosafe with a significant reduction in tumour volume for the anti-cancer efficacy of PDT. This drug delivery system using the nanoparticle-photosensitizer hybrid has great potential in melanoma theragnosis.