title: Photodynamic effects on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells with 5-aminolevulinic acid or its hexyl ester.
abstract: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a prevalent cancer in Hong Kong and southern China. To explore a new modality of NPC treatment, 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) or its hexyl ester (ALA-H) mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT) was studied in vitro. The results show that NPC cells are sensitive to both ALA and ALA-H mediated PDT. However, ALA-H PDT is much more effective at cell inactivation than ALA-PDT, due to a higher efficiency of ALA-H on producing endogenous protoporphyrin (PpIX) in cells. Both apoptosis and necrosis are involved in cell death, but apoptosis plays a major role under the short time incubation of drugs. ALA and ALA-H mediated PDT not only destroy the cells directly, but also inhibit the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) in cells, a maker for tumor metastasis. The ALA-H shows promising PDT results on NPC in vitro; therefore it is worth investigating further in vivo for NPC treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, State Key Laboratory for Advanced Photonic Materials and devices, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: R W K
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: E S M
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: C M N
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Yow
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000622:Aminolevulinic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000628:therapy*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D017319:Photosensitizing Agents; D000622:Aminolevulinic Acid; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2; C419924:5-aminolevulinic acid hexyl ester