Hypericin-based photodynamic therapy: Antitumor Activity, Accumulation Potential and Induced Cell Death Pathway

摘要

In this study the main interest was focused on the to investigation the photodynamic efficacy of hypericin, three other photosensitizers and 5 aminolevulinic acid-induced protopofirin IX in their ability to block the growth of rather aggressive tumor - Ehrlich ascite carcinoma in mice as well as Reh cells in humans (B-leukemia). Hypericin was found to exhibit the highest phototoxicity and antitumor activity in treating Ehrlich ascite carcinoma. The different photosensitizers were ranked as follows: Hypericin > hematoporphyrin dimethyl ether > Photofrin II > meso-tetra-(para-sulfophenyl)porphin > 5-aminolevulinic acid. The most important is that just after Hyp-based photodynamic therapy 75% of mice survived a 4 month-period, and no recurrence of tumor within this period was detected in 25% of the treated mice. The clear cut correlation observed between intracellular dye concentration in the tumor cells and efficiency of photodynamic therapy, supports the idea that the intracellular accumulation of the photosensitizer is one of the most important factors in determining the benefit of photodynamic therapy. Hence, the accumulation of the photosensitizer in the tumor cells should be considered as one of the prognostic factors for the determination of the therapeutic outcome. Eventually, one of the most significant result is that hypericin is effective photosensitizer for human B-leukemia cells and induces apoptosis after photosensitization.