Photokilling cancer cells using highly cell-specific antibody–TiO2 bioconjugates and electroporation

In this paper, it was reported for the first time that the combination of the electroporation and the conjugation of the TiO2 nanoparticles with the monoclonal antibody could improve the photokilling selectivity and efficiency of photoexcited TiO2 on cancer cells in the photodynamic therapy(PDT) because the conjugation of the TiO2 nanoparticles with monoclonal antibodies could increase the photokilling selectivity of TiO2 nanoparticles to cancer cells and the electroporation could accelerate the delivery speed of the TiO2 nanoparticles to cancer cells. It was observed that using this combination method, 100% human LoVo cancer cells were photokilled within 90 min, while only 39% of the normal cells were killed under the irradiation of the ultraviolet (UV) light (365 nm). Furthermore, the combination method may be used to photokill various kinds of caner cells only if the antibody conjugated on the TiO2 nanoparticles is changed.