Photodynamic therapy is an unconventional yet increasingly common method of treating dermatological diseases and cancer that is implemented more often in adults than in children. Current clinical uses include treatment of actinic keratosis, superficial basal cell carcinomas, and acne. Despite its high efficiency, photodynamic therapy support supplements have recently been reported in the literature, including calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol), the active form of vitamin D, and vitamin D3 cholecalciferol. In clinical trials, photodynamic therapy enhanced with vitamin D or D3 supplementation has been reported for treatment of squamous cell skin cancers, actinic keratosis, and psoriasis. Experimental research on the effect of photodynamic therapy with vitamin D or D3 has also been carried out in breast cancer cell lines and in animal models. The aim of this review is to evaluate the usefulness and effectiveness of vitamin D and D3 as supports for photodynamic therapy. For this purpose, the Pubmed and Scopus literature databases were searched. The search keyword was: "vitamin D in photodynamic therapy". In the analyzed articles (1979-2022), the authors found experimental evidence of a positive effect of vitamin D and D3 when used in conjunction with photodynamic therapy. An average of 6-30% (in one case, up to 10 times) increased response to photodynamic therapy was reported in combination with vitamin D and D3 as compared to photodynamic therapy alone. Implementing vitamin D and D3 as a supplement to photodynamic therapy is promising and may lead to further clinical trials and new clinical methodologies.
Keywords: calcitriol; cancer treatment; photodynamic therapy; topical application.