5-aminolevulinic-acid-hexyl-ester and Neoplasm-Metastasis

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a prevalent cancer in Hong Kong and southern China. To explore a new modality of NPC treatment, 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) or its hexyl ester (ALA-H) mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT) was studied in vitro. The results show that NPC cells are sensitive to both ALA and ALA-H mediated PDT. However, ALA-H PDT is much more effective at cell inactivation than ALA-PDT, due to a higher efficiency of ALA-H on producing endogenous protoporphyrin (PpIX) in cells. Both apoptosis and necrosis are involved in cell death, but apoptosis plays a major role under the short time incubation of drugs. ALA and ALA-H mediated PDT not only destroy the cells directly, but also inhibit the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) in cells, a maker for tumor metastasis. The ALA-H shows promising PDT results on NPC in vitro; therefore it is worth investigating further in vivo for NPC treatment.

Topics: Aminolevulinic Acid; Apoptosis; Carcinoma; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Flow Cytometry; Humans; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms; Neoplasm Metastasis; Photochemotherapy; Photosensitizing Agents