In vivo PDT treatment

Mice bearing HeLa tumors were randomized into 6 groups (4 mice/group), including PBS group, G4-sgc8-NMOFs group, free TMPyP4 group, TMPyP4-G4-lib-NMOFs group, TMPyP4-G4-sgc8 group and TMPyP4-G4-sgc8-NMOFs group. For PDT treatment, 50 μL of 2 mg/mL G4-sgc8-NMOFs, 50 μL of 100 μM free TMPyP4, 50 μL of 2 mg/mL TMPyP4-G4-lib-NMOFs, 50 μL of 100 μM of TMPyP4-G4-sgc8 or 50 μL of 2 mg/mL TMPyP4-G4-sgc8-NMOFs (corresponding to 100 μM TMPyP4) was intratumorally injected into the tumor-bearing mice. The tumors of all groups were irradiated for 30 min at 2 h post-injection with a xenon lamp (CEL-HXUV300) with an irradiance of 2 W/cm² and an optical filter of 660 nm (the irradiance specified refers to before filtering at 660 nm). 5 days later, mice were again subjected to laser irradiation for 30 min, 2 h after further injection as mentioned above. Tumor growth was monitored over 16 days after PDT treatment. Tumor size was monitored with a digital caliper every day and tumor volume was calculated as volume =A×B²/2, where A is the longer diameter and B is the shorter diameter. The body weights of all mice were measured by caliper every other day after the treatment.