The zoonosis sporotrichosis can be successfully treated by photodynamic therapy: A scoping review

Sporotrichosis is a worldwide zoonosis, prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in human and feline cases reported in Brazil. Despite this, the antifungal treatment for sporotrichosis is still limited, and thus, research into new therapeutic modalities must be encouraged. Recently, photodynamic therapy has been introduced as a treatment for sporotrichosis. This work presents an overview of both in vitro and in vivo studies that have used photodynamic therapy in the context of photoinactivation of Sporothrix species. Until now, as far as the authors are aware, this is the first scope review specifically on photodynamic therapy for the treatment of sporotrichosis. A systematic electronic search was conducted in two databases: Web of Science and PubMed. Seven original articles published from 2010 to July 2021 were selected, six of which met the proposed inclusion and exclusion criteria and were considered in this scoping review. Concerning the photoinactivation of Sporothrix spp. the results have been promising as studies, in both animals and humans, have reported significant clinical and mycological effects. The most used photosensitizers were methylene blue and its derivatives, and aminolevulinic acid and its methyl derivative, methyl aminolevulinic acid. In conclusion, photodynamic therapy has great potential in treatment of sporotrichosis, as its fungicidal effect both in vitro and in vivo has clearly been demonstrated. Photodynamic therapy could be used in conjunction with classic antifungal agents to optimize treatment outcomes.

The effect of aloe-emodin-induced photodynamic activity on the apoptosis of human gastric cancer cells: A pilot study

The aim of the present study was to explore the effect of aloe-emodin (AE)-induced photodynamic activity in human gastric cancer cells. AE was used as a photosensitizer to explore the effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in human gastric cancer cells (SGC-7901). An MTT assay was used to detect the effect of AE-induced PDT in optimal concentrations and illumination energy densities in human gastric cancer cells. Following AE-induced PDT, morphological changes of the cells and the rate of cell death were evaluated by TUNEL assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The expression levels of caspase-9 and caspase-3 were determined by western blot analysis. The AE and AE-induced PDT demonstrated a significant inhibitive effect on the proliferation of human gastric cancer cells in dose-dependent and energy-dependent manners. For subsequent experiments, 10 µM AE and 12.8 J/cm² illumination energy density were used. Typical morphological changes of apoptosis were observed in the cells using a TUNEL assay 12 h subsequent to AE-induced PDT. The percentage of apoptotic cells treated with AE-induced PDT significantly increased when compared with the control group, the 10 µM AE group and the illumination group (P<0.05). Upregulation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 protein levels was also observed following AE-induced PDT. The present study revealed that 10 µM AE-induced PDT had an inhibitory effect on human gastric cancer cells, and it may induce cell apoptosis by upregulating caspase-9 and caspase-3, which indicated that the mitochondrial pathway may be involved. AE-induced PDT has the potential to be a novel therapy for the treatment of human gastric cancer. However, further investigations are required.

The effect of aloe emodin-encapsulated nanoliposome-mediated r-caspase-3 gene transfection and photodynamic therapy on human gastric cancer cells

Gastric carcinoma (GC) has high incidence and mortality rates in China. Surgery and chemotherapy are the main treatments. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has become a new treatment modality, appearing in recent experimental studies and clinical trials in various tumors. This study explores the combined effect of gene transfection with PDT on GC cells using aloe emodin (AE)-encapsulated nanoliposomes, which acted as gene carrier as well as one photosensitizer (PS). AE-encapsulated nanoliposomes (nano-AE) were prepared by reverse evaporation method. Electron microscopy and nano-ZS90 analyzer were used to detect its morphology, size, and wavelength. Western blot was used to detect the expression of the caspase-3 after transfection. MTT assay and flow cytometry were employed to determine the cytotoxic and apoptotic rates, respectively. Hoechst 33342 staining was adopted to detect the morphological changes in death gastric cancer cells. Cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) contents were measured by DCFH-DA staining. Outcomes demonstrated that the nano-AE has good properties as gene delivery carriers as well as a PS. The group in which the recombinant plasmid of r-caspase-3 was transfected had higher protein expression of the caspase-3 than controls, meanwhile the proliferation rates of the transfected cells were inhibited by the nano-AE-mediated PDT in an energy-dependent manner. In addition, in the transfected cells, the death rate increased to 77.3% as assessed 12 h after PDT (6.4 J/cm(2) ). Hochest 33342 staining also revealed that the death rate increased significantly in the transfected group compared with other groups. Compared to control groups, the production of ROS in nano-AE PDT group had quadrupled in SGC-7901 cells as early as 1 h after PDT, while it is similar to the group of nano-AE transfection and PDT. Nano-AE-mediated r-caspase-3 gene transfection coupled with PDT could inhibit the proliferation rate and increase the apoptotic rate remarkably in human gastric cancer cells.