Chemiluminescence
(CL) systems have been used as excitation sources
through chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET) between
CL substrates and photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy (PDT).
However, it is still a tremendous challenge to construct a highly
effective CL system that has a strong emission intensity and long
duration time for PDT. Here, we constructed a Fe(III) deuteroporphyrin
IX chloride-polymer dots (FeDP-Pdots) catalyzed CL system for cancer
therapy, where the CL system was used as the generation of singlet
oxygen for inhibiting and killing tumor cells with the use of FeDP-Pdots
as both the catalysts and the photosensitizers. We prepared metalloporphyrin-polymer
dots (M-Pdots) by nanoprecipitation and systematically investigated
the relationship between the catalytic CL activities of M-Pdots and
the structures of metalloporphyrins. It is found that FeDP-Pdots have
the highest catalytic activity among 11 M-Pdots. Their CL intensity
is almost 200-fold higher than the hemin-Pdots catalyzed system. The
strong catalytic activity of FeDP is derived from its center ion Fe(III),
carboxyl groups, conjugated system, and smaller steric hindrance.
Importantly, our results demonstrated that the higher the chemiluminescence
intensity is, the more reactive oxygen species are produced during
the Pdots catalyzed CL reaction. The FeDP-Pdots catalyzed luminol
analogue L012-H2O2 CL system was used successfully
for in vitro and in vivo cancer
therapy. Our proposed method is characterized by the mass production
of singlet oxygen through CRET and no requirement of light source.
It is simple, selective, and effective, which develops a strong emission
intensity and long-duration CL system for PDT and can be applied for
the therapy of deep cancer tissues.