Polymeric Nanoencapsulation of Indocyanine green for Photodynamic Therapy Technique

Abstract

Indocyanine green (ICG) has been exploited as a photosensitizer for use in cancerous phototherapy including breast, brain, and skin tumors. Although ICG is of particular advantage for use in cancer phototherapy, it adversely tends to disintegrate in aqueous medium and such degradation can be markedly accelerated by light irradiation (photodegradation) and/or heating (thermal degradation). Furthermore, ICG after administered intravenously will be readily bound with blood proteins and hence leads to only 2±4min of plasmatic half-life. Among various pharmaceutical polymers, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), PEG, Chitosan are the best-defined biomaterials with FDA approval for drug encapsulation due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and controllability for drug release. This review shows that novel applications of biodegradable polymers as nanocarrier for ICG to improve of physicochemical properties of ICG such as Half-life.