The Role of Photodynamic Therapy in Triggering Cell Death and Facilitating Antitumor Immunology

Cancer is a major threat to human health because of its high mortality, easy recurrence, strong invasion, and metastasis. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising minimally invasive treatment for tumor. Compared with traditional treatment methods, PDT is less invasive and does not easily damage normal tissues. Most of the effects of this treatment are due to the direct effects of singlet oxygen together with reactive oxygen species. PDT can provide the source of active oxygen for the Fenton reaction, which enhances ferroptosis and also improves the efficacy of PDT in antitumor therapy. Additionally, in contrast to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, PDT has the effect of stimulating the immune response, which can effectively induce immunogenic cell death (ICD) and stimulate immunity. PDT is an ideal minimally invasive treatment method for tumors. In this paper, according to the characteristics of anti-tumor immunity of PDT, some tumor treatment strategies of PDT combined with anti-tumor immunotherapy are reviewed.

Automated summary

This paper reviews the tumor treatment strategies of photodynamic therapy (PDT) combined with anti-tumor immunotherapy, focusing on the stimulating effect of PDT on tumor immune response and the mechanisms of enhancing efficacy.