title: Photodynamic therapy with fullerenes.
abstract: Fullerenes are a class of closed-cage nanomaterials made exclusively from carbon atoms. A great deal of attention has been focused on developing medical uses of these unique molecules especially when they are derivatized with functional groups to make them soluble and therefore able to interact with biological systems. Due to their extended pi-conjugation they absorb visible light, have a high triplet yield and can generate reactive oxygen species upon illumination, suggesting a possible role of fullerenes in photodynamic therapy. Depending on the functional groups introduced into the molecule, fullerenes can effectively photoinactivate either or both pathogenic microbial cells and malignant cancer cells. The mechanism appears to involve superoxide anion as well as singlet oxygen, and under the right conditions fullerenes may have advantages over clinically applied photosensitizers for mediating photodynamic therapy of certain diseases.
authors.affiliation: Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mroz
authors.forename: George P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Tegos
authors.forename: Hariprasad
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gali
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wharton
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sarna
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hamblin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053960:DNA Breaks; D037741:Fullerenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008566:Membranes / Q000187:drug effects; D009154:Mutation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D018462:Photobiology; D010777:Photochemistry; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D014780:Viruses / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D037741:Fullerenes