Citation: Quanxin Ning, Yidan Zhang, Huayi Sun, Xin Zhao, Haodong Zhang, Feng Cui, Xiaochun Xie, Fangman Chen, Wen Sun, Hong Zhang. Light-harvesting pigment-binding protein-mimicking carbon dots for photodynamic therapy[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2025, 36(11): 111133. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111133 shu

Light-harvesting pigment-binding protein-mimicking carbon dots for photodynamic therapy

Quanxin Ning ^{c, 1} ,
Yidan Zhang ^{c, 1} ,
Huayi Sun ^{a, b, 1} ,
Xin Zhao ^{a, b} ,
Haodong Zhang ^{a, b} ,
Feng Cui ^c ,
Xiaochun Xie ^c ,
Fangman Chen ^{d, *,} ,
Wen Sun ^{e, *,} ,
Hong Zhang ^{a, b, *,}

a.
Department of Colorectal Oncology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China
b.
Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China
c.
National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
d.
State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau 999078, China
e.
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

chenfangman@hotmail.com

sunwen@dlut.edu.cn

haojiubujian1203@sina.cn

Received Date: 26 December 2024
Revised Date: 11 March 2025
Accepted Date: 20 March 2025
Available Online: 20 March 2025

Figures(5)

Porphyrin-based photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as a promising approach in clinic. However, its therapeutic efficacy is remarkedly constrained due to the intrinsic hydrophobicity of porphyrins and their limited absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region. Inspired by the unique supramolecular structures and optical properties of pigment-binding proteins during photosynthesis, we herein developed a carbon dot derived from porphyrin and amino acid mixture (TPP-AA-CDs) for efficient PDT. Having precisely tuned the optical properties of TPP-AA-CDs in the range of visible to NIR region, such a pigment-binding protein-mimicking system leveraged the hydrophilic amino acid-hybrid framework as a light-harvesting scaffold to support the hydrophobic porphyrin centre. TPP-AA-CDs exhibited enhanced light-harvesting efficiency in the presence of amino and hydroxyl residues from amino acid side chains, which facilitate the incorporation of porphyrin within the framework. Among the variants, histidine-derived carbon dots (TPP-H-CDs) performed markedly improved PDT efficiency with high biocompatibility, leading to accelerated wound healing and boosted antitumor effects under NIR light irradiation. This light-harvesting pigment-binding protein-mimicking framework that scaffolded the porphyrin, offered a promising strategy for developing the next-generation of efficient NIR-absorbing materials with potential clinical translations.
- Photodynamic therapy,
- Pigment-binding protein,
- Light-harvesting,
- Carbon dots,
- Porphyrin,
- Amino acid
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