Lycopene: a promising adjuvant to photodynamic therapy in oral cancer

Previous studies have shown that Lycopene (LY) has an antioral cancer effect, but its molecular mechanism of action is still unknown. Here, we found 56 interaction genes between LY and oral cancer using bioinformatic data analysis methods. The GO and KEGG enrichment analysis found that genes were mainly enriched in pathways in cancer. The protein with the highest degree in the PPI network is the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Consequently, we address for the first time the potential combinations of aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) and LY in the treatment of oral cancer. This treatment regimen could synergistically reduce the growth and induced apoptosis of CAL-27 cells in vitro and significantly down-regulate EGFR gene expression, meanwhile, suppress the growth of oral cancer in vivo. Taken together, our findings warrant the potential value of ALA-PDT plus LY for oral cancer.