Porphyrins in Photodynamic Therapy: A Review

Abstract

Porphyrins have emerged as versatile and highly effective photosensitizers in the field of photodynamic therapy (PDT). This promising therapeutic approach relies on the light-induced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by photosensitizing agents. This comprehensive review explores the multifaceted role of porphyrins across various PDT applications, encompassing anticancer PDT, immuno-PDT, antimicrobial PDT, and antiviral PDT. Porphyrins exhibit the potential to serve as organic supramolecular platforms for developing various photosensitizers (PSs) tailored for specific PDT modalities. The exceptional capacity of porphyrins to specifically accumulate in target cancer cells or microorganisms, their proficiency in generating ROS upon exposure to light, and their capability to amass within cell mitochondria to facilitate apoptosis establish porphyrins as invaluable assets in a wide array of therapeutic applications. Ongoing research endeavours and clinical investigations continually unveil the vast potential of porphyrin-based PDT in combatting a wide range of diseases, spanning from cancer and infections to viral ailments. Furthermore, porphyrins hold promise in addressing drug-resistant cancers and antimicrobial resistance through non-invasive PDT, offering efficient alternatives to commercially available PDT drugs. In the context of advanced cancer management, porphyrin-based PDT offers the prospect of combinatorial therapy, enabling a sequence of immunogenic post-PDT actions that can effectively overcome anticancer resistance and tackle metastatic cancers. The future of PDT appears promising, with porphyrin scaffolds expected to play pivotal roles in advancing this field.