title: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer: from local to systemic treatment.
abstract: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) requires a medical device, a photosensitizing drug and adequate use of both to trigger biological mechanisms that can rapidly destroy the primary tumour and provide long-lasting protection against metastasis. We present a multidisciplinary view of the issues raised by the development of PDT. We show how spectroscopy, photophysics, photochemistry and pharmacokinetics of photosensitizers determine the mechanism of cell death and clinical protocols. Various examples of combinations with chemotherapies and immunotherapies illustrate the opportunities to potentiate the outcome of PDT. Particular emphasis is given to the mechanisms that can be exploited to establish PDT as a systemic treatment of solid tumours and metastatic disease.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 3, 30-060 Kraków, Poland. jdabrows@chemia.uj.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Janusz M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dąbrowski
authors.forename: Luis G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Arnaut
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D017319:Photosensitizing Agents