Aggregation-induced emission luminogens for highly effective microwave dynamic therapy

Nil Kanatha Pandey; Wei Xiong; Lingyun Wang; Wei Chen; Brian Bui; Jian Yang; Eric Amador; Mingli Chen; Christina Xing; Aseem Atul Athavale; Yaowu Hao; Wirya Feizi; Lloyd Lumata

doi:10.1016/j.bioactmat.2021.05.031

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens for highly effective microwave dynamic therapy

Bioact Mater. 2021 Jun 3:7:112-125. doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2021.05.031. eCollection 2022 Jan.

Authors

Nil Kanatha Pandey¹, Wei Xiong², Lingyun Wang^{1

2}, Wei Chen¹, Brian Bui¹, Jian Yang³, Eric Amador¹, Mingli Chen⁴, Christina Xing¹, Aseem Atul Athavale⁵, Yaowu Hao⁵, Wirya Feizi⁶, Lloyd Lumata⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA.
² Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Engineering of Guangdong Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Box 332, Shenyang 110819, China.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080, USA.

Abstract

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) exhibit efficient cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation capability and unique light-up features in the aggregated state, which have been well explored in image-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, the limited penetration depth of light in tissue severely hinders AIEgens as a candidate for primary or adjunctive therapy for clinical applications. Coincidentally, microwaves (MWs) show a distinct advantage for deeper penetration depth in tissues than light. Herein, for the first time, we report AIEgen-mediated microwave dynamic therapy (MWDT) for cancer treatment. We found that two AIEgens (TPEPy-I and TPEPy-PF6) served as a new type of microwave (MW) sensitizers to produce ROS, including singlet oxygen (¹O₂), resulting in efficient destructions of cancer cells. The results of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and live/dead assays reveal that the two AIEgens when activated by MW irradiation can effectively kill cancer cells with average IC-50 values of 2.73 and 3.22 μM, respectively. Overall, the ability of the two AIEgens to be activated by MW not only overcomes the limitations of conventional PDT, but also helps to improve existing MW ablation therapy by reducing the MW dose required to achieve the same therapeutic outcome, thus reducing the occurrence of side-effects of MW radiation.

Keywords: AIEgens; Cancer treatment; Microwave ablation; Microwaves; Photodynamic therapy; Reactive oxygen species; Singlet oxygen.