Improvement of Tumor Localization of Photosensitizers for Photodynamic Therapy and Its Application for Tumor Diagnosis

Abstract

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photodynamic diagnosis of cancer are widely used in clinical fields. These are performed using photosensitizers. Many metalloporphyrin-related compounds have been developed as photosensitizers for use in PDT, and these tumor localization ability have been improved in recent research. Moreover, the precursor of porphyrin 5-aminolevulinic acid is used in fluorescence diagnosis using its tumor localization ability. In this review, these applications of photosensitizers in cancer therapy and diagnosis are summarized.

Antimicrobial effect of blue light using Porphyromonas gingivalis pigment

“…1B) of PpIX excited with blue light (Fig. 1A) was consistent with the fluorescence wavelength for photodynamic diagnoses used in cancer therapy (600–740 nm) 37, 38 .…”

The effects of the heme precursor 5‐aminolevulinic acid (ALA) on REV‐ERBα activation

“…5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is widely distributed in both plants and animals and is the common precursor of heme [10]. ALA administration induces cancer-specific accumulation of fluorescent protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) [11]. Therefore, fluorescence diagnosis, also termed photodynamic diagnosis, is based on the different ALA-induced fluorescent signatures of normal and cancer tissues [12].…”

Applications of phototheranostic nanoagents in photodynamic therapy

“…Phototheranostics are most commonly used in imaging and treatment of cancer [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Treatment of certain microbial infections has been shown to be possible [30][31][32][33][34][35].…”