Melem: a highly efficient metal-free blue-emitting phosphor, easy to synthesize and abundant in reserve.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), a treatment that uses a photosensitizer, molecular oxygen, and light to kill target cells, is a promising cancer treatment method. However, a limitation of PDT is its dependence on light that is not highly penetrating, precluding the treatment of tumors located deep in the body. Copper-cysteamine nanoparticles are a new type of photosensitizer that can generate cytotoxic singlet oxygen molecules upon activation by X-rays. In this paper, we report on the use of copper-cysteamine nanoparticles, designed to be targeted to tumors, for X-ray–induced PDT. In an in vivo study, results show a statistically significant reduction in tumor size under X-ray activation of pH-low insertion peptide–conjugated, copper-cysteamine nanoparticles in mouse tumors. This work confirms the effectiveness of copper-cysteamine nanoparticles as a photosensitizer when activated by radiation and suggests that these Cu-Cy nanoparticles may be good candidates for PDT in deeply seated tumors when combined with X-rays and conjugated to a tumor-targeting molecule.

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Here, we report our new observations on graphitic-phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4) quantum dots (QDs) as agents for microwave induced photodynamic therapy (MIPDT). For the first time, we observed that singlet oxygen is produced in g-C3N4 QDs by microwave irradiation, which can be used for tumor destruction. The results of live/dead staining and flow cytometry show that g-C3N4 QDs based MIPDT can effectively kill cancer cells and promote tumor cell death. In addition, the cell viability and hemolysis tests in vitro indicate that g-C3N4 QDs have very low cell toxicity and possess excellent biocompatibility in the physiological environments. All these indicate that g-C3N4 QDs are promising for MIPDT, a new potential modality for cancer treatment.