Vitamin D and Other Differentiation-Promoting Agents as Neoadjuvants for Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer
Photochem Photobiol, 2020 Feb 19, DOI: 10.1111/php.13230
Edward V Maytin 1 2, Tayyaba Hasan 2
Finally getting around to using Vitamin D to enhance PDT in (non-US) humans
- Photodynamic Therapy used to kill cancer in mice was improved 4X by Vitamin D – Feb 2015
- 18X increased destruction of skin cancers if active vitamin D added to photodynamic therapy (mice) – March 2015
Notes:
- This study found that both topical and oral vitamin D greatly helped Photodynamic Therapy
- ALA-based PDT is routinely used in Europe, but not the US
- Founder of VItaminDWiki suspects that PDT will improve by another 10X when they try using pulsed PDT.
- He designed and built a Low-Level-Laser-Therapy device which uses pulsed light based on Russian studies which found pulsing to be better
Download the PDF from Vitamin D Life
The efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) using aminolevulinic acid (ALA), which is preferentially taken up by cancerous cells and converted to protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), can be substantially improved by pretreating the tumor cells with Vitamin D (Vit D). Vit D is one of several "differentiation-promoting agents" that can promote the preferential accumulation of PpIX within the mitochondria of neoplastic cells, making them better targets for PDT. This article provides a historical overview of how the concept of using combination agents ("neoadjuvants") for PDT evolved, from initial discoveries about neoadjuvant effects of methotrexate and fluorouracil, to later studies to determine how Vitamin D and other agents actually work to augment PDT efficacy. While this review focuses mainly on skin cancer, it includes a discussion about how these concepts may be applied more broadly toward improving PDT outcomes in other types of cancer.