Research progress of photodynamic therapy in antitumor therapies

Abstract. As one of the leading causes of disease death globally, conventional treatments for cancers have been developed, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy etc. However, some drawbacks restrain their therapeutic effects. Consequently, researchers have been struggling to develop novel strategies to cure tumors. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a significant means that utilizes light as well as photosensitizers to kill tumor cells. In PDT, a photosensitizer absorbs a photon and transfer to states with higher energy, then energy is released and generates free radicals and ground-state molecular oxygen by two distinct types of reaction to exert therapeutic functions. This review concentrates on the antitumor principles and mechanisms of PDT, common photosensitizers, combination of PDT and other cancer therapies and its effects on several typical cancers.