Development of red-light cleavable PEG-PLA nanoparticles as delivery systems for cancer therapy.

The development of targeted delivery systems can improve the selectivity of cancer drugs. Additionally, a system that promotes the controlled delivery of the drug triggered by an external stimulus in the exact target tissue is highly desirable. Regarding the light stimulus, the NIR window (650-950 nm) is the most suitable due to its higher capacity of penetration in human tissues and less harmful effects on normal cells.

Near infrared light-triggered nanoparticles using singlet oxygen photocleavage for drug delivery systems.

Drug delivery systems (DDSs) have showed a reduced systemic toxicity and enhanced therapeutic efficacy over conventional cancer treatments. However, after reaching the damaged tissue, DDSs should present a trigger release of the encaged therapeutics. Among all methodologies for a controlled release system, the use of light in NIR window (650-900 nm) shows the most appropriate characteristics for biological applications (e.