Porphyrin photosensitizers are mostly used components in
photodynamic therapy (
PDT). The poor solubility of
porphyrins in aqueous medium is the problem to be solved for the in vivo applications. The delivery of
photosensitizers to the
tumor cells using
liposome vehicles can help to overcome this problem. In this work, we have first functionalized the
protoporphyrin IX with lipophilic
oleylamine arms and encapsulated it into 1,2 dioleyl-sn-glycero-
phosphatidylcholine (
DOPC)
liposomes. The appropriate sizes of
liposomes are about 140 nm and have the characteristic Soret and Q band absorptions at 405 nm (Soret), 507 nm, 541 nm, 577 nm and 631 nm (Q bands), respectively. In the photodynamic activity studies, the liposomal
porphyrins were irradiated with light (375 nm, 10 mW) in the presence of
cancer cell lines, HeLa and AGS. We have found that both liposomal
porphyrins and
oleylamine conjugated
porphyrins are much more effective than
PpIX. This result can be attributed to the
drug delivery characteristic of the
liposomes which plays effective role in endocytosis. We also found that, in AGS cells, liposomal
PpIX-Ole induced apoptosis more than HeLa cells under light conditions.