PDT (Photodynamic Therapy)

Cancer treatment

Main article: Cancer treatment

2023: Team of scientists presents results of photosensitive substance test for photodynamic cancer therapy

A team of scientists from NUST MISIS, Sechenov University and N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology presented the results of testing a photosensitive substance for photodynamic therapy of cancer - a photosensitizer (PS) of bacteriochlorine. MISIS University announced this on July 18, 2023.

Bacteriochlorine is naturally synthesized by phototrophic bacteria that use light for energy. The proposed drug based on it effectively suppresses lung tumor growth in mice from the experimental group and increases their survival rate by more than 50%.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an actively developing method of treating cancer based on the use of a photosensitizer and a special light source. The photosensitive substance is introduced into the patient's body, where it accumulates in tumor cells after 24-72 hours, leaving healthy ones. When abnormal cells that have absorbed the DS are exposed to a laser or light emitting diode of a certain wavelength, a photochemical reaction occurs, the drug goes into an excited state, as a result of which molecular oxygen forms free radicals that destroy target cells.

One of the reasons for the insufficiently high effectiveness of therapeutic approaches and methods for treating cancer is cancer stem cells (RSCs), which contribute to the development of metastases and recurrence of the disease. RSCs are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but sensitive to photodynamic therapy. However, RSC destruction approaches and methods are under investigation and development.

In vitro and in vivo studies have shown excellent results - the proposed PS based on the synthetic pigment bacteriochlorine effectively inhibits tumor growth in mice from the experimental group.

The photosensitive substance we are investigating is very effective for Lewis lung carcinoma cells. The lifespan of the mice increased by more than 130% compared to the control group, and the cure was 50%. Bacteriochlorine-based photosensitizers have high photodynamic efficiency, cause necrosis and apoptosis of cancer cells, "explains co-author of the study, Ph.D. Saida Karshieva, leading expert at the Research Center for Biomedical Engineering at MISIS University.

In the future, scientists plan to continue research on a photosensitizer for PDT, but already for other types of cancer, for example, at this stage there is a series of in vitro experiments with glioblastoma, a malignant tumor that is most often formed in the brain.