Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the administration of photosensitizers followed by illumination of the primary tumor with red light producing reactive oxygen species that cause vascular shutdown and tumor cell necrosis and apoptosis. Anti-tumor immunity is stimulated after PDT due to the acute inflammatory response, priming of the immune system to recognize tumor-associated antigens (TAA). The induction of specific CD8+ Tlymphocyte cells that recognize major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) restricted epitopes of TAAs is a highly desirable goal in cancer therapy. The PDT killed tumor cells may be phagocytosed by dendritic cells (DC) that then migrate to draining lymph nodes and prime naïve T-cells that recognize TAA epitopes. This process is however, often sub-optimal, in part due to tumor-induced DC dysfunction. Instead of DC that can become mature and activated and have a potent antigen-presenting and immune stimulating phenotype, immature dendritic cells (iDC) are often found in tumors and are part of an immunosuppressive milieu including regulatory T-cells and immunosuppressive cytokines such as TGF-beta and IL10. We here report on the use of a potent DC activating agent, an oligonucleotide (ODN) that contains a non-methylated CpG motif and acts as an agonist of toll like receptor (TLR) 9. TLR activation is a danger signal to notify the immune system of the presence of invading pathogens. CpG-ODN (but not scrambled non-CpG ODN) increased bone-marrow DC activation after exposure to PDT-killed tumor cells, and significantly increased tumor response to PDT and mouse survival after peri-tumoral administration. CpG may be a valuable immunoadjuvant to PDT especially for tumors that produce DC dysfunction.

The immune system is a diverse group of cells that recognize and attack foreign substances, pathogenic organisms and cancer cells. It also produces inflammation, an essential component of the wound healing process and, following the resolution of inflammation, plays a crucial role in the control of granulation tissue formation. Granulation tissue is the precursor of scar tissue. Injured skin and mucous membranes generally heal rapidly. However, some wounds are either slow to heal or fail to heal while in others overgrowth of scar tissue occurs, resulting in the production of either hypertophic or keloid scars. The modulation of wound healing in such conditions is clinically important and may even be vital. Evidence will be presented that phototherapy can modulate wound healing, and that changes induced in the immune system, in particular the secretion of soluble protein mediators including cytokines, may be involved in this modulation. The immune system has peripheral and deep components. The former, being located mainly in the skin and mucous membranes, are readily accessible to photons, which can affect them directly. The components of the immune system are linked by lymphatic vessels and blood vessels, which include many capillaries located in the sub-epithelial connective tissues of the skin and mucous membranes. The superficial location of these capillaries provides the immune cells and molecules in transit through them with ready access to photons. When these cells and molecules, some modified by exposure to photons, reach susceptible cells such as lymphocytes in the deeper parts of the immune system and cells of injured tissues, they can modify their activity. In addition to having direct effects on peripheral cells, photons can thus also produce indirect effects on cells too distant for the photons to reach them. For example, cytokines released from peripheral macrophages in response to the direct action of photons can be transported to and affect other cells, including fibroblasts of injured tissues, that have not been exposed to photons. It is therefore possible for injuries other than those directly exposed to phototherapy to be affected by it indirectly.

It has long been established that exogenous immunostimulants can enhance the host defense system. The use of such immunoadjuvants in most cases has often been proven non-specific, hence limiting their capability in fighting against specific foreign invasion, particularly against tumor cells, which in most cases can easily evade the host immune surveillance system. However, when the non-specific immunological enhancement is combined with other direct intervention, the immune responses could be turned to be tumor-specific. Glycated chitosan (GC), a specially designed immunoadjuvant, has been used in combination with phototherapy for cancer treatment with promising outcomes in animal studies. Here we present our results of cellular studies on the functions of GC. When used by itself, GC was not toxic to normal cells as well as to tumor cells. When GC was incubated with macrophages, it could induce significant secretion of TNFα. Furthermore, when GC was used with laser irradiation, it has significantly enhanced tumor cell destruction and immune responses.

Laser immunotherapy is a promising cancer treatment method that induces antitumor immunity and appears to be effective both locally and systemically. In this context, an important factor is the overall state of the immune system, both locally and systemically. The success of any immunotherapy treatment depends on the balance between the local immunosuppressive forces induced by the tumor and the immune response of the host organism. Factors that influence this balance include heat-shock proteins (for example HSP70), transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukins, and more. Laser phototherapy, which is based on non-thermal photobiological processes, has been shown to modulate the body's own immune response, both locally and systemically, with a strong influence on for example cytokine production and heat-shock protein synthesis. Laser phototherapy may therefore be an important component in the overall efficacy of laser immunotherapy, and may tip the balance between the immunosuppressive and immunostimulatory forces in favor of immunostimulation.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the western world. The disease is very resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. One reason for that is the resistance of pancreatic cancer cells to apoptosis. Among the current investigational approaches, targeting human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER-1/EGFR) and interstitial photodynamic therapy (PDT) show promises. When used alone or together, these new approaches might provide an alternative modality to treat pancreatic cancer. This study examined and compared cytotoxic effects of antibody C225 (an anti-HER-1/EGFR monoclonal antibody) and Photofrin-mediated PDT on two human pancreatic cancer cell lines (BxPc-3, HPAF-II). Preliminary in vitro data indicated that these treatments could block various proliferation pathways of pancreatic cancer cells through different mechanisms. For instance, PDT could induce early apoptosis. C225 could induce G1 arrest. These findings might help to design new strategies such as the combination of PDT and immunotherapy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Apoptosis is an important cellular event that plays a key role in therapy of many diseases. The mechanisms of the initiation and regulation of photodynamic therapy (PDT) -induced apoptosis is complex. Some PDT-associated apoptosis pathways involved plasma membrane death receptors, mitochondria, lysosomes and endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Our previous study found that Photofrin were localized primarily in mitochondria, the primary targets of Photofrin-PDT. The key role of Bax in the mitochondrion-mediated apoptosis has been demonstrated in many systems. In order to determine the role of Bax in the mitochondrion-mediated apoptosis induced by Photofrin-PDT, we used the CFP/GFP-Bax plasmid to monitor the dynamics of Bax activation and translocation after PDT treatment. With laser scanning confocal microscopy, we found that PDT induced Bax translocation from the cytosol to mitochondria; however, with cells over-expressing YFP-HSP70 plasmids, Bax translocation was not detected. Thus, for Photofrin-PDT, Bax activation and translocation were inhibited by HSP70, not influence the cell death.

Liver cancer is one of the most common malignancies in the world, with approximately 1,000,000 cases reported every year. This ranges from 15,000 cases in the United States to more than a 250,000 in China. About 80% of people with primary liver cancer are male. Although two-thirds of people have advanced liver disease when they seek medical help, one third of the patients have cancer that has not progressed beyond the liver. Primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, or HCC) is associated with liver cirrhosis 60-80% of the time. HCC may metastasize to the lung, bones, kidney, and many other organs. Surgical resection, liver transplantation, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are the foundation of current HCC therapies. However the outcomes are poor-the survival rate is almost zero for metastatic HCC patients. Molecular mechanisms of HCC metastasis need to be understood better and new therapies must be developed to selectively target to unique characteristics of HCC cell growth and metastasis. We have developed the "in vivo microscopy" to study the mechanisms that govern liver tumor cell spread through the microenvironment in vivo in real-time confocal near-infrared fluorescence imaging. A recently developed "in vivo flow cytometer" and optical imaging are used to assess liver tumor cell spreading and the circulation kinetics of liver tumor cells. A real-time quantitative monitoring of circulating liver tumor cells by the in vivo flow cytometer will be useful to assess the effectiveness of the potential therapeutic interventions.

Motivated by recent successes in growing intradermal tumors in the ears of mice and establishing the feasibility of in vivo confocal imaging of anatomic vessels in these tumors using fluorophore-conjugated antibodies to CD31, we are exploring a number of applications of optical fluorescence imaging in superficial murine tumor models in vivo. Immune responses induced by photodynamic therapy (PDT) are dynamic processes that occur in a spatially and temporally specific manner. To visualize these processes noninvasively, we have made progress in developing optical molecular imaging strategies that take advantage of intradermal injection of fluorophore-conjugated-antibodies against surface antigens on immune cells. This enables confocal imaging of the fluorescently labeled host cells to depths of at least 100 microns, and using this technique we have achieved in vivo imaging of granulocyte (GR-1)- and major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II)-positive cell trafficking in tumors in response to PDT. The latter include macrophages and dendritic cells. Data from tumors that were subjected to PDT with the photosensitizer, HPPH, reveals a significantly enhanced level of GR-1+ cell infiltration compared to untreated control tumor. The temporal kinetics of GR-1+ and MHC-II+ cells at different time intervals post-PDT are being examined. The ability to image host responses in vivo without excising or perturbing the tissue has opened up opportunities to explore means of optimizing them to therapeutic advantage.

Artesunate (ART), a semi-synthetic derivative of the sesquiterpene artemisinin extracted from the Chinese herb Artemisia annua, exerts a broad spectrum of clinical activity against human cancers. Artemisinin-derivative combination chemotherapy is recommended by WHO since it acts rapidly and is well tolerated and particularly effective. In present investigation, we used CKK-8 assay to assess the inhibitory effects of ART on human lung adenocarcinoma (ASTC-a-1) cells. Apoptotic activity of ART in ASTC-a-1 cells was detected by means of nuclear staining with Hoechst33258. In order to monitor the activity of caspase-3 during ART-induced ASTC-a-1 cells apoptosis, the dynamical emission spectra of SCAT3, a FRET plasmid based on GFPs, were performed inside living cell expressed stably with SCAT3 after ART treatment. The results showed that (1) ART could inhibit ASTC-a-1 cells proliferation in a dose-dependent manner; (2) chromatin condensation was observed after ART treatment for 48 h; (3) the SCAT3 inside living cells were cleaved after ART treatment for 48 h, implying that caspase-3 was involved in the ART-induced apoptosis.

Dihydroartemisinin (DHA), a semi-synthetic derivative of artemisinin, isolated from the traditional Chinese herb Artemisia annua, has been shown to possess promising anticancer activities and induce cancer cell death through apoptotic pathways. However, the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. This study was investigated in human lung adenocarconoma ASTC-a-1 cell line and aimed to determine whether the apoptotic process was mediated by Bax activation and translocation during DHA-induced apoptosis. In this study, DHA induced a time-dependent apoptotic cell death, which was assayed by Cell Counting Kit (CCK-8) and Hoechst 33258 staining. Detection of Bax aggregation and translocation to mitochondria was observed in living cells which were co-transfected with GFP-Bax and Dsred-mito plasmid using confocal fluorescence microscope technique. Overall, these results demonstrated that Bax activation and translocation to mitochondria occurred during DHA-induced apoptosis.

we have previously reported that taxol, a potent anticancer agent, induces caspase-independent cell death and cytoplasmic vacuolization in human lung adenocarcinoma (ASTC-a-1) cells. However, the mechanisms of taxol-induced cytoplasmic vacuolization are poorly understood. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been reported to be involved in the taxol-induced cell death. Here, we employed confocal fluorescence microscopy imaging to explore the role of ROS in taxol-induced cytoplasmic vacuolization. We found that ROS inhibition by addition of N-acetycysteine (NAC), a total ROS scavenger, did not suppress these vacuolization but instead increased vacuolization. Take together, our results showed that ROS is not a promotor of the taxol-induced cytoplasmic vacuolization.

Mitochondrial injury, characterized by its depolarization, is a key to cell apoptosis. High fluence low-power laser irradiation (HF-LPLI) through endogenous photosensitive reactions can cause mitochondrial injury. However, the exact mechanisms are not fully understood. Using fluorescent image techniques, we investigated cell apoptosis caused by mitochondrial photosensitization by HF-LPLI. Our results showed that the major step of the apoptosis, decrease of mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨm), occurred accompanying with high levels of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, indicating mitochondrial injury caused by ROS. Scavenging the photodynamical ROS completely prevented mitochondrial depolarization supported the view. Taken together, we demonstrated that HF-LPLI caused mitochondrial injury through a large amount of mitochondrial ROS generation. The specific mechanisms need to be further studied.

Low-power laser irradiation (LPLI) has been regarded as playing a significant role in triggering cellular survival and proliferation. However, the mechanism has not been fully understood. In this study, using real-time single-cell analysis, we investigated the activity of Akt and its effects on cell proliferation induced by LPLI in african green monkey SV40-transformed kidney fibroblast cells (COS-7). We utilized a recombinant fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) Akt probe (BKAR) to dynamically detect the activation of Akt after LPLI treatment. Our results show that LPLI induced a gradual and continuous activation of Akt. Moreover, the activation of Akt can be completely abolished by wortmannin, a specific inhibitor of PI3K, suggesting that the activation of Akt caused by LPLI is a PI3K-dependent event. LPLI promotes cell proliferation through Akt activation since the cell viability was significantly inhibited by PI3K inhibitor. We thus conclude that, Akt activation is well involved in LPLI triggered cell proliferation that acts as a time and dose-dependent manner.

Cisplatin, an efficient anticancer agent, can trigger multiple apoptotic pathways in cancer cells. However, the signal transduction pathways in response to cisplatin-based chemotherapy are complicated, and the mechanism is not fully understood. In current study, we showed that, during cisplatin-induced apoptosis of human lung adenocarcinoma cells, both the caspase-dependent and -independent pathways were activated. Herein, we reported that after cisplatin treatment, the activities of caspase-9/-3 were sharply increased; pre-treatment with Z-LEHD-fmk (inhibitor of caspase-9), Z-DEVD-fmk (inhibitor of caspase-3), and Z-VAD-fmk (a pan-caspase inhibitor) increased cell viability and decreased apoptosis, suggesting that caspase-mediated apoptotic pathway was activated following cisplatin treatment. Confocal imaging of the cells transfected with AIF-GFP demonstrated that AIF release occurred about 9 h after cisplatin treatment. The event proceeded progressively over time, coinciding with a nuclear translocation and lasting for more than 2 hours. Down-regulation of AIF by siRNA also significantly increased cell viability and decreased apoptosis, these results suggested that AIF-mediated caspase-independent apoptotic pathway was involved in cispatin-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, the current study demonstrated that both caspase-dependent and -independent apoptotic pathways were involved in cisplatin-induced apoptosis in human lung adenocarcinoma cells.

Recently, the long-term immunological effects of photodynamic therapy have attracted much attention. PDT induced immune response was mainly initiated through necrotic cells and apoptotic cells, as well as immune cells such as macrophages. Nitric oxide (NO) as an important regulatory factor in signal transfer between cells has been wildly studied for generation, development, and metastasis of tumors. NO synthase is a key enzyme in nitric oxide synthesis. However, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is usually activated under pathological conditions, such as stress and cancer, which can produce high levels of nitric oxide and contribute to tumor cytotoxicity. In addition, increased NO production by iNOS has been associated with the host immune response and cell apoptosis, which play an important role in many carcinogenesis and anti-carcinoma mechanisms. This study focuses on the NO production in macrophages, induced by mouse breast carcinoma apoptotic cells treated by PDT in vitro, and on the effects of immune response induced by apoptotic cells in tumor cells growth.

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) has been widely used in biology in recent years, and permits high spatial resolution assays of protein-protein interactions in living cells. Here, we first use the FRET technique to real-time observe the binding of EGF to EGFR on the surface of A549 cells and EGFR-GFP-ldlA7 cells, and continuously monitor this reaction for 1 hour. In addition, this is the first direct evidence that FRET occurred between different proteins which are in the intramembrane and extramembrane, respectively.