Nowadays,
multidrug resistance is the main challenge during cancer
chemotherapy. Photochemical internalization (PCI) has been demonstrated
to be a unique and promising approach to overcome multidrug resistance
with light-harnessed activation. Here, an amphiphilic pH-responsive
block copolymer with IR780 at the junction point [PEG-IR780-PDEAEMA;
PEG, poly(ethylene glycol); PDEAEMA, poly((diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)]
has been designed as a perfect drug release platform as well as a
functional macromolecular photosensitizer of PCI. PEG-IR780-PDEAEMA
was synthesized by the combination of RAFT polymerization and click
chemistry and further self-assembled into spherical micelles in aqueous
solution. Notably, IR780 moieties were dispersed regularly around
the core of the spherical micelles, which led to the diminishment
of the aggregation-caused quenching effect of photosensitizers and
high singlet oxygen quantum yield. Confocal laser scanning microscopy
results showed that a high amount of doxorubicin (DOX) was translocated
into the nucleus with NIR light irradiation through the PCI effect.
Moreover, DOX-loaded PEG-IR780-PDEAEMA micelles showed much higher
phototoxicity under short-time NIR light irradiation than their dark
toxicity. Therefore, this DOX-loaded drug release platform based on
pH-sensitive IR780-containing block copolymers has the potential to
offer an efficient strategy for addressing drug resistance.