Table 2.
List of various photosensitizers tested on Hepatocellular Carcinoma, hepatoma or healthy liver for Photodynamic Diagnosis, or Photodynamic Therapy or both. PS: Photosensitizer; PDT: Photodynamic Therapy; HCC: Hepatocellular Carcinoma; mTHPC: meta-tetra (hydroxyphenyl) chlorin; mTHPBC: 5,10,15,20-tetrakis (m-hydroxyphenyl) bacteriochlorin; 5-ALA: 5-Aminolevulinic Acid; ICG: Indocyanine Green.
| Photosensitizer | Study Set-Up | Conclusion | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| mTHPC | In-Vivo | High tumoral accumulation of the PS was observed in rat liver metastases with respect to the normal liver; extensive tumor tissue damage upon illumination; mild and transient damage to normal tissue was observed. | [41] |
| Photofrin, mTHPC, and mTHPBC | In-Vivo | Upon illumination, near-infrared PS mTHPBC showed significantly larger necrotic areas than the others in normal rat livers; highlight the advantage of near-infrared PS activation for pigmented tissues like the liver. | [43] |
| New nanocarrier containing IR780 | In-Vitro and in-vivo | IR780 and Paclitaxel (chemotherapeutic drug) loaded nanocarriers exhibited synergistic effect by inducing cancer cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase for HCC; the combined treatment inhibited the in-vivo tumor growth and the tumor angiogenesis. | [44] |
| Chlorin e6 containing gold nanoparticles | In-Vitro and in-vivo | PDT coupled with hypoxia-induced chemotherapy showed a synergistic anti-HCC effect. | [45] |
| ICG-loaded lactosomes | In-Vitro and in-vivo | ICG-lactosome PDT treated HCC cells have higher cytotoxicity than ICG PDT; ICG-lactosome had higher fluorescence of tumor areas than ICG alone, along with anti-neoplastic effects on these malignant implants. | [46] |
| 5-ALA | In-Vitro and in-vivo | In-Vitro and in-vivo PpIX fluorescence was detected in tumors; red fluorescence was detected in HCC patient samples who were orally administered with 5-ALA before resection. | [47] |
| 5-ALA | In-Vivo | Higher PpIX fluorescence intensity was detected in HCC than in non-tumoral tissues in Male Fisher-344 rats; PDT induced necrosis in tumoral tissue; no necrosis was evident in non-tumoral tissue. | [48] |
| Deuteporfin | In-Vivo | PDT can inhibit mouse hepatoma growth and induce an anti-tumor immune response. | [49] |
| Pheophorbide-a | In-Vitro | PDT caused tumoral cytotoxicity of HCC cell lines by induction of apoptosis; PDT-induced immunogenicity triggered phagocytic capture of HCC cell lines by human macrophages. | [50] |