Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 42 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (227 download)
Book Synopsis Enhancing Tumor Drug Delivery by Laser-Activated Vascular Barrier Disruption by :
Download or read book Enhancing Tumor Drug Delivery by Laser-Activated Vascular Barrier Disruption written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An obstacle for successful drug therapy for cancer is the existence of drug delivery barriers, which causes insufficient drug delivery to the tumor tissue. Because of inadequate drug delivery to the tumor tissue, the drug dose has to be increased, which leads to normal tissue toxicity. This delivery problem not only limits the clinical application of existing chemotherapeutics, but also decreases the effectiveness of many new drugs under development for prostate cancer. We found that vascular targeting photodynamic therapy (PDT), a modality involving the combination of a photosensitizer and laser light, is able to disrupt tumor vascular barrier, a significant hindrance to drug delivery. Therefore, tumor accumulation of circulating molecules is significantly enhanced, as demonstrated by intravital fluorescence microscopy and whole-body fluorescence imaging techniques. Immunofluorescence staining of endothelial cytoskeleton structure further indicates microtubule depolymerization, stress actin fiber formation and intercellular gap formation. Based on these results, we propose to use this laser-based therapy to enhance anticancer drug effectiveness. PDT is currently in worldwide multicenter clinical trials for the localized prostate cancer therapy. The available results indicate that PDT employing advanced laser fiber technology and sophisticated light dosimetry is able to treat localized prostate cancer in an effective and safe way. The combination of photosensitization with current chemotherapy or other new drug therapies will greatly improve clinical treatment for localized prostate cancer patients that accounts for more than 90% of total prostate cancer population.