Nanotheranostics ; 9 1 : Full text PDF. International Journal of Biological Sciences. International Journal of Medical Sciences. Global reach, higher impact. Theranostics ; 2 9 Leanne B.
Josefsen, Ross W. Ross W. Porphyrinic molecules have a unique theranostic role in disease therapy; they have been used to image, detect and treat different forms of diseased tissue including age-related macular degeneration and a number of different cancer types. Current focus is on the clinical imaging of tumour tissue; targeted delivery of photosensitisers and the potential of photosensitisers in multimodal biomedical theranostic nanoplatforms. The roles of porphyrinic molecules in imaging and pdt, along with research into improving their selective uptake in diseased tissue and their utility in theranostic applications are highlighted in this Review.
Porphyrins are a group of naturally occurring intensely coloured compounds, whose name is drawn from the Greek word porphura purple [ 1 , 2 ]. These molecules are involved in a number of biologically important roles, including oxygen transport and photosynthesis, and have applications in a number of fields, ranging from fluorescence imaging to medicine [ 3 - 15 ].
Porphyrins are classified as tetrapyrrolic molecules with the heart of the skeleton a heterocyclic macrocycle, known as porphine. Phthalocyanines PCs, figure 2 are closely related to porphyrins; they are intensely coloured symmetric, aromatic macrocycles. They form coordination complexes with a wide range of metals via the central cavity , yielding intensely coloured blue-green compounds, and have widely been used as colourants.
More recently PCs have been used as photoconducting materials in laser printers and the light absorbing layer in recordable compact discs. They are also used as photosensitisers in phototherapy; as fluorescent reporters in vitro and in vivo ; as non-linear optical materials; and as industrial catalysts [ 16 - 22 ]. These benzene rings act to strengthen the absorption of the chromophore at longer wavelengths nm , with respect to porphyrins.
