Abstract
Cervical cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Despite advances in current therapies, women with advanced or recurrent disease present poor prognosis. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as an effective therapeutic alternative to treat oncological diseases such as cervical cancer. Phthalocyanines (Pcs) are considered good photosensitizers (PS) for PDT, although most of them present high levels of aggregation and are lipophilic. Despite many investigations and encouraging results, Pcs have not been approved as PS for PDT of invasive cervical cancer yet. This review presents an overview on the pathophysiology of cervical cancer and summarizes the most recent developments on the physicochemical properties of Pcs and biological results obtained both in vitro in tumor-bearing mice and in clinical tests reported in the last five years. Current evidence indicates that Pcs have potential as pharmaceutical agents for anti-cervical cancer therapy. The authors firmly believe that Pc-based formulations could emerge as a privileged scaffold for the establishment of lead compounds for PDT against different types of cervical cancer.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women worldwide with an estimated 604,000 cases and 342,000 deaths worldwide in 2020 [1,2]
These preventable measures have not been equitably implemented across and within countries [2,5]. This is evidenced by the data that around 90% of cervical cancer cases occur in low- and medium-income countries (LMICs), where the incidence and disease-specific mortality continue to increase [2,6]
This study evaluated the effectiveness of Photodynamic therapy (PDT) using Silicon phthalocyanine 4 (Pc4) in vitro and in vivo against human cervical cancer cells CaSki
Summary
Cervical cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women worldwide with an estimated 604,000 cases and 342,000 deaths worldwide in 2020 [1,2]. PDT has the following advantages in the treatment of CIN and invasive cervical cancer: localized treatment through light application, HPV inactivation if properly applied, selectivity of action in dysplastic and neoplastic cells, the possibility of repeated use without leading to cumulative toxicity, the possibility of combination with chemotherapy and radiotherapy to obtain better results, and the improvement of antitumor immunity helping in tumor elimination as well as tumor control in the medium and long term [21]. Another option to increase the solubility and bioavailability of hydrophobic Pcs and their derivatives is a formulation using various drug delivery systems (DDSs) such as nanoemulsions and liposomal, among others [36], which present themselves as feasible approaches to increase Pcs’ biocompatibility Despite these advances and encouraging results, Pcs are not yet approved as PS for invasive cervical cancer PDT. There is an emphasis on various strategies to enhance the functions of Pcs, showing the great promise of this class of functional dyes as advanced PS for PDT of CIN and cervical cancer
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