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dos Santos et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:25 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2018.83 Metastasis and Treatment

Review Open Access

Photodynamic therapy in cancer treatment - an
update review

Ancély Ferreira dos Santos, Daria Raquel Queiroz de Almeida, Leticia Ferreira Terra, Mauri ́ cio S.
Baptista, Leticia Labriola

Department of Biochemistry, Chemistry Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-000, Brazil.

Correspondence to: Prof. Leticia Labriola, Department of Biochemistry, Chemistry Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo
05508-000, Brazil. E-mail: labriola@iq.usp.br; Prof. Maurício S. Baptista, Department of Biochemistry, University of São Paulo,
Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes 748, São Paulo 05508-900, Brazil. E-mail: baptista@iq.usp.br
How to cite this article: dos Santos AF, de Almeida DRQ, Terra LF, Baptista MS, Labriola L. Photodynamic therapy in cancer
treatment - an update review. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:25. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2018.83
Received: 30 Nov 2018 First Decision: 22 Dec 2018 Revised: 1 Feb 2019 Accepted: 12 Feb 2019 Published: 29 Mar 2019

Science Editor: William P. Schiemann Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract
Cancer remains a worldwide health problem, being the disease with the highest impact on global health. Even
with all the recent technological improvements, recurrence and metastasis still are the main cause of death. Since
photodynamic therapy (PDT) does not compromise other treatment options and presents reduced long-term
morbidity when compared with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, it appears as a promising alternative treatment for
controlling malignant diseases. In this review, we set out to perform a broad up-date on PDT in cancer research
and treatment, discussing how this approach has been applied and what it could add to breast cancer therapy. We
covered topics going from the photochemical mechanisms involved, the different cell death mechanisms being
triggered by a myriad of photosensitizers up to the more recent-on-going clinical trials.

Keywords: Photodynamic therapy, breast cancer, photosensitizers, cell death

INTRODUCTION
Cancer remains a worldwide health problem. In particular, breast cancer is the disease with the highest
impact on global health. Even with all the recent technological improvements, recurrence and metastasis still
are the main causes of death. In fact, the high mortality as a consequence of distant metastasis in patients
[1,2]
remains a bottleneck for an effective treatment in clinic . Metastasis are characterized by a sequential and
[3]
complex process during which cancer cells invade specific organs including lung, liver, brain, and bone .

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
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