Role of Toll-like receptors in photodynamic-therapy-elicited host response

Abstract

Treatment of solid tumors by photodynamic therapy (PDT) induces a host reaction, coordinated through a network of inflammatory and immune responses, that plays an important role in the therapy outcome. It is suggested that this host response is initiated by altered self-associated endogenous danger signals massively released from PDT-treated tumors. Toll-like receptors, localized predominantly in the membrane of immune cells, are the major sensors of the recognition arm of the innate immune system. The engagement of these receptors by PDT-generated danger signals prompts the activation of the networks of innate immunity signaling pathways leading to the downstream activation of nuclear transcription factors responsible for the transcription of inflammatory/immune response-associated genes. The contribution of PDT-induced host response to the therapeutic outcome depends on the balance between the tissue-destructive action of inflammatory/immune effectors and the impact of concomitantly mobilized negative regulatory mechanisms evolved for controlling the intensity and duration of inflammatory and immune responses.