Targeting and photodynamic killing of cancer cell by nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide coupled with folic acid

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has attracted wide attention as a potential photosensitizer (PS) in photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, bare TiO2 can only be excited by ultraviolet illumination, and it lacks specific targeting ligands, which largely impede its application. In our study, we produced nitrogen-doped TiO2 and linked it with an effective cancer cell targeting agent, folic acid (FA), to obtain N-TiO2-FA nanoconjugates. Characterization of N-TiO2-FA included Zeta potential, absorption spectra and thermogravimetric analysis. The results showed that N-TiO2-FA was successfully produced and it possessed better dispersibility in aqueous solution than unmodified TiO2. The N-TiO2-FA was incubated with human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (KB) and human pulmonary adenocarcinoma (A549) cells. The KB cells that overexpress folate receptors (FR) on cell membranes were used as FR-positive cancer cells, while A549 cells were used as FR-negative cells. Laser scanning confocal microscopy results showed that KB cells had a higher uptake efficiency of N-TiO2-FA, which was about twice that of A549 cells. Finally, N-TiO2-FA is of no cytotoxicity, and has a better photokilling effect on KB cells under visible light irradiation. In conclusion, N-TiO2-FA can be as high-value as a PS in cancer targeting PDT.