Current status of photodynamic technology for urothelial cancer

5-Aminolevulinic acid is a new-generation photosensitizer with high tumor specificity. It has been used successfully in the diagnosis, treatment, and screening of urological cancers including bladder cancer; specifically, it has been used in photodynamic diagnosis to detect tumors by illuminating the lesion with a specific wavelength of light to produce fluorescence in the lesion after administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid, in photodynamic therapy, which induces tumor cell death via production of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species, and in photodynamic screening, in which porphyrin excretion in the blood and urine is used as a tumor biomarker after administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid. In addition to these applications in urological cancers, 5-aminolevulinic acid-based photodynamic technology is expected to be used as a novel strategy for a large number of cancer types because it is based on a property of cancer cells known as the Warburg effect, which is a basic biological property that is common across all cancers.

Automated summary

5-Aminolevulinic acid is a new-generation photosensitizer that has shown success in diagnosis, treatment, and screening of urological cancers, particularly bladder cancer. Its applications in photodynamic diagnosis, therapy, and screening are based on inducing fluorescence in tumor cells, cytotoxic reactive oxygen species production, and using porphyrin excretion as a tumor biomarker. Additionally, its potential for use in various cancer types is promising due to its targeting of a common biological property shared by all cancers.