Cover of Organic & Biomolecular

In a new article, published today as an advanced HOT article in the journal Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, Prof. Tomé, his PhD student Sara Fernandes and colleagues, review novel synthetic strategies to develop photoimmunoconjugates for cancer treatment by photodynamic therapy (PDT). The authors’ stellar constellations-inspired cover was chosen by the OBC editors and it is out in OBC issue 10 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C8OB02902D). The cover image is about cancer cells being destroyed by antibody-photosensitizer conjugates (photoimmunoconjugate) after light irradiation. The photoimmunoconjugate binds specifically to a protein overexpressed by the cancer cells and it is then irradiated with light to generate reactive oxygen species that are toxic to the cancer cells. This mini-review describes synthetic strategies by which an antibody is conjugated with a photosensitizer and it highlights the most recent preclinical and clinical studies using photoimmunoconjugates for the treatment of cancer by photodynamic therapy.