Supramolecular Assemblies for Photodynamic Therapy

Abstract

In recent years, supramolecular systems for nano-medicine, and in particular for photodynamic therapy, have gained great attention for their uses as smart and engineered therapeutic agents. We proposed a collection of very recent articles on supramolecular complexes for photodynamic therapy based on different photosensitizers assembled with cyclodextrins, cucurbiturils, calixarenes, pillararenes, or involved in nanobox and tweezer structures, nanoparticles, aggregates and micelles, that are dynamic assemblies inspired to biological systems. Despite the advantages of traditional Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which is a non-invasive, reliable and highly selective clinical treatment for several pathological conditions, different drawbacks are still smothering the applicability of this clinical treatment. In this contest, a new supramolecular approach is emerging, in fact, the reversible formation of these supramolecular assemblies, combined with the possibility to modify their dimensions and shapes in the presence of a guest make them similar to biological macromolecules, such as proteins and enzymes. Furthermore, due to the relatively weak and dynamic nature of supramolecular assemblies, they can undergo assembly and disassembly very fast as well as responses to external stimuli, such as biological (e.g. enzyme activation), chemical (e.g. redox potential or pH), and physical (e.g. temperature, light or magnetic fields). Therefore, the responsiveness of these supramolecular assemblies represents a highly promising approach to obtain potentially personalized PDT.