Abstract

BREAST CANCER TREATMENT BASED ON PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY: AN OVERVIEW

Bjorn John Stephen, Dr. Vikram Kumar*

ABSTRACT

With the growing number of cancers cases over the years the need for effective treatments are becoming more demanding. Though many of the advancement in the development of cancer therapies are reliable, the side effects that accompany these like the lack of specificity have been a cause of concern and hence alternative therapies have now become the focus of research. Photodynamic therapy is one such therapy which is based on the combined effect of mainly three components including light, oxygen and a photosensitizes drug. The ability of the drug to be taken up by cancer cells and only become reactive on exposure to light of specific frequency, gives the therapy the advantage of being specific thus avoiding normal cells from damage. The use of photodynamic therapy for breast cancer is currently in clinical trials. This review focuses on the general aspect of photodynamic therapy and the current scenario of photodynamic therapy in the treatment of breast cancer.

Keywords: Breast Cancer, Photodynamic Therapy (PDT), Photosensitizer, Apoptosis