Fullerenes C60 shows great potential for drug transport. C60 generates large amounts of singlet oxygen upon photoexcitation, which has a significant inhibitory effect on tumor cells, so the photosensitive properties of C60 were exploited for photodynamic therapy of tumors by laser irradiation.

In this study, C60-NH₂ was functionalized by introducing amino acids on the surface of C60, coupled with 5-FU to obtain C60 amino acid-derived drugs (C60AF, C60GF, C60LF), and activated photosensitive drugs (C60AFL, C60GFL, C60LFL) were obtained by laser irradiation. The C60 nano-photosensitive drugs were characterized in various ways, and the efficacy and safety of C60 nano-photosensitive drugs were verified by cellular experiments and animal experiments. Bioinformatics methods and cellular experiments were used to confirm the photosensitive drug targets and verify the therapeutic targets with C60AF.

Photosensitised tumor-targeted drug delivery effectively crosses cell membranes, leads to more apoptotic cell death, and provides higher anti-tumor efficacy and safety in vitro and in vivo colorectal cancer pharmacodynamic assays compared to free 5-FU.C60 photosensitized drug promotes tumor killing by inhibiting the colorectal cancer FLOR1 tumor protein target, with no significant toxic effects on normal organs.

C60 photosensitized drug delivery systems are expected to improve efficacy and reduce side effects in the future treatment of colorectal cancer. Further and better development and design of drugs and vectors for colorectal cancer therapy.