Combination of Near Infrared Light-Activated Photodynamic Therapy Mediated by Indocyanine Green with Etoposide to Treat Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Indocyanine green (ICG) has been reported as a potential near-infrared (NIR) photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer. However the application of ICG-mediated PDT is both intrinsically and physiologically limited. Here we report a combination of ICG-PDT with a chemotherapy drug etoposide (VP-16), aiming to enhance the anticancer efficacy, to circumvent limitations of PDT using ICG, and to reduce side effects of VP-16. We found in controlled in vitro cell-based assays that this combination is effective in killing non-small-cell lung cancer cells (NSCLC, A549 cell line). We also found that the combination of ICG-PDT and VP-16 exhibits strong synergy in killing non-small-cell lung cancer cells partially through inducing more DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), while it has a much weaker synergy in killing human normal cells (GM05757). Furthermore, by studying the treatment sequence dependence and the cytotoxicity of laser-irradiated mixtures of ICG and VP-16, we found that the observed synergy involves direct/indirect reactions between ICG and VP-16. We further propose that there exists an electron transfer reaction between ICG and VP-16 under irradiation. This study therefore shows the anticancer efficacy of ICG-PDT combined with VP-16. These findings suggest that ICG-mediated PDT may be applied in combination with the chemotherapy drug VP-16 to treat some cancers, especially the non-small-cell lung cancer.

Loading of Indocyanine Green within Polydopamine-Coated Laponite Nanodisks for Targeted Cancer Photothermal and Photodynamic Therapy

“…Photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) are emerging physical tumor treatments utilizing near infrared (NIR) light-absorbing agents which lead to thermal ablation of cancer cells or generate highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) via photosensitizer to ablate tumors [ 1 , 2 ]. PTT and PDT possess several advantages, such as minimal invasion, high therapeutic efficacy, limited side-effects, selective localized treatment and reproducible properties [ 3 , 4 ], and hence have received much attention in recent years [ 5 , 6 ].…”

Enhanced Photodynamic Anticancer Activities of Multifunctional Magnetic Nanoparticles (Fe3O4) Conjugated with Chlorin e6 and Folic Acid in Prostate and Breast Cancer Cells

“…In PDT, photosensitizers (PS) are the key components that transfer photo-energy to the surrounding O 2 molecules, generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), primarily singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ), to eliminate proximal cancer cells [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. According to a recent study, various PSs have developed, which absorb light over a broad range from ultraviolet (UV) to the near-infrared (NIR) range [ 13 , 14 ]. However, the absorption bands of many PSs are primarily in the UV-Vis region [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Oxygen Self-Sufficient Amphiphilic Polypeptide Nanoparticles Encapsulating BODIPY for Potential Near Infrared Imaging-guided Photodynamic Therapy at Low Energy

“…Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which kills cancer cells by reactive oxygen species (ROS) when photosensitizers (PSs) were exposed to light in the presence of oxygen, has attracted increasing attention in recent years. 1 - 3 To achieve imaging-guided PDT, excellent PSs needs to have both high near-infrared (NIR) emission and singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) generation efficiency, 4 , 5 among which heavy atoms modified 4, 4-difluoro-4-bora-3a, a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) PSs have been widely studied. 6 , 7 …”