title: Death and survival signals in photodynamic therapy.
abstract: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an anticancer modality utilizing the generation of singlet oxygen and other reactive oxygen species through visible light irradiation of a photosensitive dye accumulated in the cancerous tissue. Upon exposure of cancer cells to the photodynamic stress, multiple signaling cascades are concomitantly activated and depending on the subcellular location of the generated ROS and the intensity of the oxidative damage, they dictate whether cells will cope with the stress and survive or succumb and die. Different methodologies have been developed to allow the discrimination of cell death subroutines at the morphological, ultrastructural, and biochemical levels and to scrutinize signaling cascades in response to PDT. Here we describe a selection of useful techniques to characterize apoptosis and autophagy and to monitor the activation status of the MAPK- and Akt-mTOR pathways after PDT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dewaele
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Verfaillie
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Martinet
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Agostinis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D053078:Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D051379:Mice; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D020169:Caspases