Identification of Blood Transport Proteins to Carry Temoporfin: A Domino Approach from Virtual Screening to Synthesis and In Vitro PDT Testing.

ABSTRACT: Temoporfin (mTHPC) is one of the most promising photosensitizers used in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Despite its clinical use, the lipophilic character of mTHPC still hampers the full exploitation of its potential. Low solubility in water, high tendency to aggregate, and low biocompatibility are the main limitations because they cause poor stability in physiological environments, dark toxicity, and ultimately reduce the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Applying a reverse docking approach, here, we identified a number of blood transport proteins able to bind and disperse monomolecularly mTHPC, namely apohemoglobin, apomyoglobin, hemopexin, and afamin. We validated the computational results synthesizing the mTHPC-apomyoglobin complex (mTHPC@apoMb) and demonstrated that the protei

SUBMITTER: Marconi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10056000 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature