Photodynamic Therapy of Cancers With Internal Light Sources: Chemiluminescence, Bioluminescence, and Cerenkov Radiation

Yintang Zhang; Yuanqiang Hao; Shu Chen; Maotian Xu

doi:10.3389/fchem.2020.00770

Photodynamic Therapy of Cancers With Internal Light Sources: Chemiluminescence, Bioluminescence, and Cerenkov Radiation

Front Chem. 2020 Sep 4:8:770. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.00770. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Yintang Zhang¹, Yuanqiang Hao¹, Shu Chen², Maotian Xu¹

Affiliations

¹ Henan Key Laboratory of Biomolecular Recognition and Sensing, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Joint International Research Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Early Diagnosis of Major Diseases, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.
² Key Laboratory of Theoretical Organic Chemistry and Function Molecule of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China.

Abstract

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising and minimally invasive modality for the treatment of cancers. The use of a self-illuminating system as a light source provides an intriguing solution to the light penetration issues of conventional PDT, which have gained considerable research interest in the past few years. This mini review aimed to present an overview of self-illuminating PDT systems by using internal light sources (chemiluminescence, bioluminescence, and Cerenkov radiation) and to give a brief discussion on the current challenges and future perspectives.

Keywords: Cerenkov radiation; bioluminescence; cancers; chemiluminescence; internal light sources; photodynamic therapy.

Publication types

Review