Enhancing Photodynamyc Therapy Efficacy by Combination Therapy: Dated, Current and Oncoming Strategies

Cancers

Ilaria Postiglione¹  Angela Chiaviello¹ 

[1] Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Pathology “L. Califano”, University Federico II, Via S. Pansini, Naples 5 80131, Italy;

关键词: photodynamic therapy;    photosensitizers;    combination therapy;    targeted therapy;   

DOI  :  10.3390/cancers3022597

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Combination therapy is a common practice in many medical disciplines. It is defined as the use of more than one drug to treat the same disease. Sometimes this expression describes the simultaneous use of therapeutic approaches that target different cellular/molecular pathways, increasing the chances of killing the diseased cell. This short review is concerned with therapeutic combinations in which PDT (Photodynamyc Therapy) is the core therapeutic partner. Besides the description of the principal methods used to assess the efficacy attained by combinations in respect to monotherapy, this review describes experimental results in which PDT was combined with conventional drugs in different experimental conditions. This inventory is far from exhaustive, as the number of photosensitizers used in combination with different drugs is very large. Reports cited in this work have been selected because considered representative. The combinations we have reviewed include the association of PDT with anti-oxidants, chemotherapeutics, drugs targeting topoisomerases I and II, antimetabolites and others. Some paragraphs are dedicated to PDT and immuno-modulation, others to associations of PDT with angiogenesis inhibitors, receptor inhibitors, radiotherapy and more. Finally, a look is dedicated to combinations involving the use of natural compounds and, as new entries, drugs that act as proteasome inhibitors.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.