Photodynamic activity of cationic ball-type zinc phthalocyanine in cell culture experiments with MCF-7 and MG63 cancer cells

Effective binding of cationic ball-type zinc phthalocyanine (BT-Pc) to G-quadruplex (G4) DNA molecules has already been demonstrated previously. This motivated us to investigate the PDT performance of BT-Pc in cell culture studies. Accordingly, the present work involves the application of BT-Pc to breast (MCF-7) and osteosarcoma (MG63) cancer cells, and also to healthy fibroblast cells (L929). Cell lines (CL) were irradiated at 640 nm wavelength, and the photodynamic activity was evaluated. The results show that cytotoxicity was significantly stronger in MCF-7 cells than in both L929 and MG63 cells (p < 0.05) in the absence of IPL irradiation. Also, we report that the application of l IPL provided significant photodynamic activity in MCF-7 and MG63 cells (p < 0.05). These results further suggest that BT-Pc might become a promising photosensitizer for future clinical trials.