Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising new cancer treatment. PDT is based on the use of a non-toxic drug or dye known as a photosensitizer (PS), which is administered intravenously or orally to a tumor-bearing patient. After the incubation period, the tumor tissue is illuminated with a long wavelength of red visible light. At this stage, the generation of cytotoxic species, such as reactive singlet oxygen leads to the irreversible destruction of the treated tumor tissues. The most important advantage of PDT is selectivity towards tumor cells. Repeated injections and treatments can be made indefinitely and the short lifetime and high reactivity of singlet oxygen means that the key cytotoxic agent toxicity is limited to the immediate area in which the photosensitizer is localized. In addition to PDT, combination therapy for cancer treatment has attracted much attention. In this respect, our focus is on design and synthesis of an ideal PS and linking it with an anticancer drug and/or an antibody to improve the efficiency and selectivity of the treatment.