Photodynamic therapy (PDT) requires oxygen to cause tumor damage, yet therapy itself can deplete or enhance tumor oxygenation. In the present work we measured the PDT-induced change in tumor oxygenation and explored its utility for predicting long-term response to treatment. The tissue hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO 2 ) of murine tumors was noninvasively measured by broadband diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. In initial validation studies, the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve for mouse blood was accurately recreated based on measurements during deoxygenation of a tissue phantom of mouse erythrocytes. In vivo studies exhibited excellent correlation between carbogen-induced changes in SO 2 and pO 2 of radiation-induced fibrosarcoma tumors measured by reflectance spectroscopy and the Eppendorf pO 2 histograph, respectively. In PDT studies radiation-induced fibrosarcoma tumor SO 2 was measured immediately before and after Photofrin-PDT (135 J/cm 2 , 38 mW/cm 2 ). Animals were subsequently followed for tumor growth to a volume of 400 mm 3 (time-to-400 mm 3 ) or the presence of tumor cure (no tumor growth at 90 days after treatment). In animals that recurred, the PDT-induced change in tumor SO 2 , i.e., relative-SO 2 (SO 2 after PDT/SO 2 before PDT) was positively correlated with treatment durability (time-to-400 mm 3 ). The predictive value of relative-SO 2 was confirmed in a second group of animals with enhanced pre-PDT oxygenation due to carbogen breathing. Furthermore, when all of the animals were considered (those that recurred and those that were cured) a highly significant association was found between increasing relative-SO 2 and increasing probability of survival, i.e., absence of recurrence. As independent variables, the SO 2 after PDT, the pre-PDT tumor volume, and light penetration depth all failed to predict response. As an independent variable, the SO 2 before PDT demonstrated a weak negative association with treatment durability; this association was driven by a correlation between decreasing pre-PDT SO 2 and increasing relative-SO 2 . These data suggest that monitoring of PDTinduced changes in tumor oxygenation may be a valuable prognostic indicator.

Purpose: A previous phase I trial of i.p. photodynamic therapy established the maximally tolerated dose of Photofrin (Axcan Pharma, Birmingham, AL)-mediated photodynamic therapy and showed encouraging efficacy. The primary objectives of this phase II study were to determine the efficacy and toxicities of i.p. photodynamic therapy in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis and sarcomatosis. Experimental Design: Patients received Photofrin 2.5 mg/kg i.v. 48 hours before debulking surgery. Intraoperative laser light was delivered to the peritoneal surfaces of the abdomen and pelvis. The outcomes of interest were (a) complete response, (b) failure-free survival time, and (c) overall survival time. Photosensitizer levels in tumor and normal tissues were measured. Results: One hundred patients were enrolled into one of three strata (33 ovarian, 37 gastrointestinal, and 30 sarcoma). Twenty-nine patients did not receive light treatment. All 100 patients had progressed by the time of statistical analysis. The median failure-free survival and overall survival by strata were ovarian, 2.1and 20.1months; gastrointestinal cancers,1.8 and11.1months; sarcoma, 3.7 and 21.9 months. Substantial fluid shifts were observed postoperatively, and the major toxicities were related to volume overload. Two patients died in the immediate postoperative period from bleeding, sepsis, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and cardiac ischemia. Conclusions: Intraperitoneal Photofrin-mediated photodynamic therapy is feasible but does not lead to significant objective complete responses or long-term tumor control. Heterogeneity in photosensitizer uptake and tumor oxygenation, lack of tumor specificity for photosensitizeruptake, and the heterogeneity in tissue optical properties may account for the lack of efficacy observed.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) can lead to the creation of heterogeneous, response-limiting hypoxia during illumination, which may be controlled in part through illumination fluence rate. In the present report we consider 1) regional differences in hypoxia, vascular response, and cell kill as a function of tumor depth and 2) the role of fluence rate as a mediator of depth-dependent regional intratumor heterogeneity. Intradermal RIF murine tumors were treated with Photofrin-PDT using surface illumination at an irradiance of 75 or 38 mW/cm2. Regional heterogeneity in tumor response was examined through comparison of effects in the surface vs. base of tumors, i.e. along a plane parallel to the skin surface and perpendicular to the incident illumination. 75 mW/cm2-PDT created significantly greater hypoxia in tumor bases relative to their surfaces. Increased hypoxia in the tumor base could not be attributed to regional differences in Photofrin concentration nor effects of fluence rate distribution on photochemical oxygen consumption, but significant depth-dependent heterogeneity in vascular responses and cytotoxic response were detected. At a lower fluence rate of 38 mW/cm2, no detectable regional differences in hypoxia or cytotoxic responses were apparent, and heterogeneity in vascular response was significantly less than that during 75 mW/cm2-PDT. This research suggests that the benefits of low-fluence-rate-PDT are mediated in part by a reduction in intratumor heterogeneity in hypoxic, vascular and cytotoxic responses.