Nanoparticle Self-lighting Photodynamic Therapy
Wei Chen, Ph. D. Professor
Nano-Bio Physics, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas
Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth. Every year,
about 562,340 Americans are expected to die of cancer, more than 1,500 people a day. Cancer is
the second most common cause of death in the US, exceeded only by heart disease. In the US,
cancer accounts for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths. Early detection and effective treatment are the
best hope for cancer patients. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising recipe for cancer
treatment. However, the difficulty of light penetration into deep tissue has hitherto prevented the
application of photodynamic therapy for deep cancer treatment. The three components that are
required for PDT are oxygen, photosensitizers, and light. To solve the problem of light
penetration and to enhance the PDT treatment for deep cancers, I have proposed a new PDT
system in which the light is provided by afterglow nanoparticles with attached photosensitizers.
When the nanoparticle-photosensitizer conjugates are targeted to tumor and stimulated by X-ray
during radiotherapy, the particles will generate light to activate the photosensitizers for
photodynamic therapy. Therefore, the radiation and photodynamic therapies are combined and
occur simultaneously, and the tumor destruction will be more efficient. More importantly, it can
be used for deep tumor treatment as X-ray can penetrate deep into the tissue such as Breast and
prostate cancers. This novel modality is called nanoparticle self-lighting photodynamic therapy
(NSLPDT). In this presentation, I will report the progress of the research in my group on the
design, synthesis and evaluation of nanoparticle conjugates for photodynamic therapy.
Along with PDT, PTT (Photothermal Therapy) is also an effective method for cancer treatment.
In our innovative studies, we investigated the potential of CuS nanoparticles for PTT. CuS
nanoparticles have optical absorption band in the NIR range with a maximum at 900 nm.
Irradiation by a NIR laser beam at 808 nm, the temperature in CuS nanoparticle aqueous solution
is increased as a function of exposure time and nanoparticle concentration. CuS nanoparticles
induced photothermal destruction of HeLa cells in a laser dose- and nanoparticle concentrationdependent manner, and displayed minimal cytotoxic effects with a profile similar to that of gold
nanoparticles. Owing to their unique optical property, small size, low cost of production, and
low cytotoxicity, CuS nanoparticles are promising new nanomaterials for cancer photothermal
ablation therapy.
In the last part of my presentation, I will briefly introduce my work on drug delivery and
targeting and my research projects on radiation detection for homeland security.
Dr. Wei Chen is a full professor of Nano-Bio Physics at the Physics Department, The University
of Texas at Arlington. He received his Ph. D. in Chemistry from Peking University, Beijing,
China. In 2000, Dr. Chen joined Nomadics, where he serves as a senior and leading scientist in
Nanotechnology. In 2006, he joined UTA as an assistant professor in Nano-Bio Physics and was
promoted to associate professor in 2011 and a full professor in 2013. Dr. Chen pioneered the
photostimulated luminescence of nanoparticles and the nanoparticle self-lighting photodynamic
therapy for cancer treatment. He has been funded by National Natural Science Foundation of
China, President Special Funds of Chinese Academy of Science, NSF, NIH, DHS, DOE, Army
Medical and Air Force Office, DTRA and Industry. He has 7 US patents granted and 7 US
patents pending. He has co-authored more than 200 journal
publications, 4 invited review articles, 7 book chapters and one
edited book. So far, Dr. Chen’s publications have been cited more
than 7000 times and his H-index is 43. He serves as Editor-inChief for Reviews in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, American
editor for the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and the
associate editor for Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology
published by American Scientific Publishers.
陈伟教授简介
陈伟（Wei Chen）博士系国际著名纳米药物和癌
症纳米技术专家，德克萨斯大学（The University of Texas at Arlington, UTA）物
理系纳米生物物理专业终身教授，UTA纳米技术联合安全研究中心（the Center
for Security Advances Via Nano-Technology）主任，生物医学纳米技术杂志（
Journal of Biomedical nanotechnology ）副主编，美国科学出版社（American
Scientific Publishers, California）主编，纳米科学与技术评论杂志（Reviews in
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology）主编。