Jena Subhrakant, Douhal Abderrazzak
Departamento de Química Física, Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales y Bioquímica, and INAMOL, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Avenida Carlos III, 45071 Toledo, Spain.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 May 17;26(10):4819. doi: 10.3390/ijms26104819.
Chalcogen-containing therapeutic agents (TAs), which include sulfur (S), selenium (Se), and tellurium (Te) atoms, have recently emerged as a promising class of photosensitizers (PSs) and photothermal agents (PTAs) for cancer phototherapy. The incorporation of heavier chalcogens into organic chromophores leads to visible-to-near-infrared (VIS-NIR) light absorption, efficient triplet harvesting, and adequate heat and energy transfer efficiency, all of which are paramount for photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT). However, chalcogen-based PSs/PTAs suffer from photostability, bioavailability, and targeted delivery issues, which minimize their PDT/PTT performances. Nevertheless, significant progress in the rational design of nanoencapsulation strategies has been achieved to overcome the challenges of chalcogen-based TAs for effective phototherapeutic cancer treatment. This review highlights the recent advances (within the last five years) in nano-drug delivery approaches adapted for chalcogen-substituted PSs/PTAs for PDT, PTT, or synergistic PDT/PTT, integrating imaging and treatment. The PSs/PTAs described in this review are classified into three classes: (i) sulfur, (ii) selenium, and (iii) tellurium-containing TAs used in phototherapy applications. This review offers a comprehensive perspective on the design of chalcogen-substituted photosensitizers (PSs) and photothermal agents (PTAs), covering spectroscopic and computational characterization, nanoformulation strategies, and their roles in enhancing reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and photothermal conversion efficiency for improved in vitro and in vivo performance. We hope this work will encourage further research into nanotechnological strategies designed to enhance the phototherapeutic efficacy of chalcogen-containing therapeutic agents.
含硫属元素的治疗剂（TAs），包括硫（S）、硒（Se）和碲（Te）原子，最近已成为一类有前景的用于癌症光疗的光敏剂（PSs）和光热剂（PTAs）。将较重的硫属元素引入有机发色团会导致可见光至近红外（VIS-NIR）光吸收、有效的三线态捕获以及足够的热和能量转移效率，所有这些对于光动力疗法（PDT）和光热疗法（PTT）都至关重要。然而，基于硫属元素的PSs/PTAs存在光稳定性、生物利用度和靶向递送问题，这使其PDT/PTT性能降至最低。尽管如此，在合理设计纳米封装策略方面已取得重大进展，以克服基于硫属元素的TAs在有效光疗癌症治疗方面的挑战。本综述重点介绍了（过去五年内）适用于含硫属元素取代的PSs/PTAs用于PDT、PTT或协同PDT/PTT并整合成像和治疗的纳米药物递送方法的最新进展。本综述中描述的PSs/PTAs分为三类：（i）硫，（ii）硒，以及（iii）用于光疗应用的含碲TAs。本综述提供了关于硫属元素取代的光敏剂（PSs）和光热剂（PTAs）设计的全面观点，涵盖光谱和计算表征、纳米制剂策略，以及它们在增强活性氧（ROS）生成和光热转换效率以改善体外和体内性能方面的作用。我们希望这项工作将鼓励进一步研究旨在提高含硫属元素治疗剂光疗疗效的纳米技术策略。
