Combinatorial treatment of photothermal therapy using gold nanoshells with conventional photodynamic therapy to improve treatment efficacy: An in vitro study

Abstract

Both photodynamic (PDT) and photothermal (PTT) therapy have proven to be effective treatment strategies for cancer, but the approach of combining them into a single treatment modality may offer better treatment efficacy. We compare the treatment efficacy of such combined treatment with the individual treatment. We perform the individual PDT, PTT and combined treatment under selected in vitro condition with our low light dose of 1.44 J/cm(2) and compare their cell viability using crystal fast violet assay. Compared to PDT and PTT alone which can reduce cell viability to 30.9% and 44.0% respectively, the combined treatment under a single irradiation can further reduce the cell viability to 17.5%. A combined PDT and PTT treatment appears to be a more effective treatment strategy compared to conventional PDT or emerging PTT treatment.