Abstract
As the PDT effect may be enhanced by localized hyperthermia (HT), it would be logical to find a single agent that could bring about these two modalities at precisely the target site for synergism. Since highly localized HT can be induced by magnetic field excitation of superparamagnetic nanoparticles, we report here the design and synthesis of photosensitizer-decorated iron oxide nanoparticles and their tumoricidal effect. Thus, a porphyrin is covalently anchored on the iron oxide nanoparticle via dihydroxybenzene which binds tightly on the surface of the nanoparticle by M-O bond. The morphology of the resultant nanoparticle was studied to show that the crystallinality is not changed and the nanoparticle remains superparamagnetic at room temperature. The conjugate is also strongly fluorescent indicating that the iron oxide hardly affects the optical properties of the surface bound porphyrin moieties. The conjugate is readily taken by cancer cell (Hela cell line) and is able to trigger apoptosis after excitation by light.