Photodynamic Therapy and Skin Cancer

Abstract

Non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is the most common type of cancer among white skin individuals worldwide with an increasing incidence over the last years. NMSC is mostly treated with surgical or non-invasive methods such as cryotherapy or topical chemotherapeutics. Over the last years, there has been a rapidly growing interest in the use of photodynamic therapy (PDT) which is a well-tolerated, safe and effective alternative treatment option. PDT involves a photosensitizer, a light source and tissue oxygen and is based on a photo-oxidation reaction in the target tissue which results to a selective destruction of the cancer cells. PDT has been approved for treatment of actinic keratosis, Bowen's disease and basal cell carcinoma in Europe. Off-label uses include treatment of invasive squamous cell carcinoma, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, Paget's disease and prevention of recurrence of squamous cell carcinoma in organ-transplant recipients. Also combination of PDT with other treatment options such as cryotherapy, surgery and topical therapies has been reported with improved efficacy, tolerability and long-term results. Development of novel photosensitizers and light sources together with targeted delivery systems will increase specificity, efficiency and treatment field of PDT in the future. This chapter aims to give the reader an overview of the important applications of PDT, including indications, approved treatments, advantages and disadvantages of this method such as future trends.

Effect of skin color on optical properties and the implications for medical optical technologies: a review

“…121 Where PDT has been used to treat nonmelanoma skin cancers, including BCC, SCC, Bowen’s disease, and AK, the majority of the published work has studied efficacy in people with FST I–II. 112 , 122 – 125 This is probably because skin cancers are more prevalent in pale-skinned populations with the people with the darkest skin being diagnosed, with approximately one twentieth of the cases of skin cancer of those with the palest skin. 126 Nevertheless, there are incorrect perceptions that skin cancers are unique to the lighter-skinned population and morbidity in darker-skinned people is greater due to later diagnosis, with 70% 5-year survival rate in dark-skinned people compared with 92% in lighter-skinned people.…”

Light-Induced Therapies for Prostate Cancer Treatment

“…In addition, conventional PS show poor selectivity toward diseased tissues as compared to healthy ones and generally suffer from poor delivery to the target site. Also for these reasons, to date, the clinical translation of PDT has been hampered and currently PDT is mainly focused on the treatment of superficial cancers (Senior, 2005; Papakonstantinou et al, 2018). In the last decades, nanomaterials have been largely studied for both cancer therapy and diagnosis by exploiting the intrinsic characteristic of NPs based systems as compared to free drugs and/or diagnostic agents.…”