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Background: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive cancer therapy. However, its therapeutic efficacy for prostate cancer is not yet fully understood. In this study, the predictors of therapeutic efficacy of 5-aminolevulinic acid-based PDT (ALA-PDT) on prostate cancer cells are investigated., Materials and Methods: The human prostate cancer cell lines, PC-3, 22Rv1, DU145, and LNCap were used to investigate the effects of ALA-PDT on protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) intracellular accumulation, which was measured by flow cytometry. The cytotoxicity of ALA-PDT was evaluated by MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. The levels of porphyrin metabolism-related enzyme and transporter mRNA were comprehensively evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Protein expression was evaluated by Western blot. A xenograft model was created using PC-3 and 22Rv1, and then, pathological analysis was performed to determine the therapeutic effect of ALA-PDT RESULTS: PC-3 and LNCap cells showed high accumulation of PpIX and high sensitivity to ALA-PDT, while 22Rv1 and DU145 showed low accumulation of PpIX and low sensitivity to ALA-PDT. ALA-PDT-induced cytotoxicity correlated negatively with PpIX accumulation. The in vitro assays identified the ATP-binding cassette transporter subfamily G2 (ABCG2) transporter dimer as a predictor of treatment response. In vivo immunohistochemical staining of ABCG2 transporter showed low expression in PC-3 cells and high expression in 22Rv1 cells, and ALA-PDT-induced tumor tissue degeneration was greater in PC-3 cells than in 22Rv1 cells., Conclusion: The ABCG2 transporter is a useful predictor of the therapeutic effect of ALA-PDT on human prostate cancer cells., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Photodynamic therapy is a clinically approved, minimally invasive,therapeutic procedure used for the treatment of several cancers. In recent years, sunitinib, one of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors, has also attracted attention as a novel photosensitizer. However, there is currently no data available on the combined cytotoxic effects of sunitinib and photoirradiation on renal cell carcinoma including how the treatment induced cellular toxicity., Methods: In the present study, we used sunitinib as a photosensitizer and evaluated the effects of sunitinib and photodynamic therapy treatment on renal cancer cell lines, including the induction of cell death., Results: Our study showed that treatment with sunitinib and photoirradiation at 8 mW/cm 2 for 30 min resulted in the production intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is indicated by the increase in mRNA expression levels of PAI-1, NF-κβ, and Caspase-3. An increase in rate of apoptotic reaction and increase in the expression level of apoptotic marker were also observed when cells undergo treatment with sunitinib and photoirradiation., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that combining photodynamic therapy with sunitinib represents a minimally invasive therapeutic procedure with cancer selectivity for renal cell carcinoma., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and diagnosis (PDD) using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) to control the production of the intracellular photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) are commonly used clinically. Previously, we demonstrated that dormant and drug-induced dormancy-like cancer cells accumulated high PpIX levels, making them sensitive to ALA-PDT. Because EAU Guidelines awarded a level of evidence of 1a to mitomycin C, the drug is widely used to treat bladder cancer. In this study, we investigated that the effect of mitomycin C-induced cell cycle arrest on porphyrin metabolism, including that induced by ALA-PDT., Methods: T24 human urinary bladder carcinoma cells were selected for this research. T24 cells were irradiated using a light-emitting diode emitting red light for the ALA-PDT assay. Cell cycle analysis was conducted by flow cytometry using bromodeoxyuridine. Cell viability was confirmed using the MTT or colony formation assay. Furthermore, mRNA gene expression analysis was performed using our previously reported methods., Results: The cell cycle of T24 cells was arrested at G2/M phase by mitomycin C. PpIX accumulation was dramatically increased by mitomycin C treatment. Cell viability after ALA-PDT was remarkably decreased by mitomycin C pretreatment. The gene expression of porphyrin transporters was consistent with the metabolic and morphological results. Finally, we confirmed that ALA-PDT combined with mitomycin C treatment exerted a long-term inhibitory effect on cell proliferation., Conclusion: This study demonstrated a new approach to enhance the effects of ALA-PDT using drugs that induce a dormancy-like status and upregulate porphyrin metabolism., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Tumor biomarkers are commonly used for cancer screening and as indicators of treatment effects. We recently reported that urine porphyrin levels from tumor-bearing mice were elevated compared with those from normal mice after administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA). In the present study, we evaluated the use of urine samples from bladder cancer patients as tumor biomarkers., Methods: ALA, 1.0 g, was orally administered to 66 bladder cancer patients and 20 healthy adults. The urine concentrations of uroporphyrin I (UPI), uroporphyrin III (UPIII), coproporphyrin I (CPI), coproporphyrin III (CPIII), and total porphyrins were measured using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) system., Results: Almost all of the urinary porphyrin concentrations from the patients with bladder cancer were higher than those from healthy adults. Moreover, 8h after ALA administration, urinary UPI and CPI showed high sensitivity (100 for UPI and CPI) and specificity (96.4 for UPI and 91.4 for CPI)., Conclusion: These results indicate that the presence of urinary porphyrins after administration of ALA may function as tumor biomarkers. This method represents a possible new tumor screening method called photodynamic screening (PDS) using ALA-induced porphyrins., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Hemorrhage is one of the most frequent complications after dilation and evacuation. A small fraction of patients with hemorrhage will not respond to standard therapies. We discuss a case where both reaspiration and standard pharmacologic therapy failed to control hemorrhage and where hemorrhage was ultimately controlled by tamponade with two Foley catheters. We propose this method as an additional alternative for controlling hemorrhage after dilation and evacuation before resorting to angiographic embolization or surgery.

Presumably, a large number of recurrent abortions are caused by lethal recessive syndromes whose diagnosis depends either on a known family history or on the identification of characteristic fetal phenotypic features on pathologic examination. Because these conditions are rare, family histories are seldom helpful, and nondirected postmortem examinations on degenerating samples are seldom enlightening. Serial ultrasonography beginning early in pregnancy may provide important information in the evaluation of recurrent abortion caused by lethal recessive disorders. Reported is the accurate prenatal sonographic diagnosis of lethal multiple pterygium syndrome in a patient with a history of recurrent abortions. This syndrome is characterized by multiple limb contractures with pterygia, facial clefting, intracranial abnormalities, cystic hygroma, progressive fetal edema, and fetal death by midgestation. Inheritance may be X-linked recessive. Lethal multiple pterygium syndrome should be considered in patients with a history of recurrent midtrimester losses.