Photodynamic action of LED-activated pyropheophorbide-<i>α</i>methyl ester in cisplatinresistant human ovarian carcinoma cells

Abstract

Cisplatin-resistance is a major obstacle for the successful therapy to ovarian cancer, and exploring novel approach to deactivate cisplatin-resistant ovarian cells will improve the clinical outcomes. Our present study showed that there was no dark cytotoxicity of MPPa in the COC1/DDP cells at the dose of 0.25 – 4 μM, and LED-activated MPPa resulted in drug dose- and light-dependent cytotoxicity. Apoptotic rate 6 h after LED-activated MPPa (2 μM) increased to 16.71% under the light energy of 1 J/cm2. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that MPPa mainly localized in the intracellular membrane system, namely the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes and mitochondria in the COC1/DDP cells. Mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) was collapsed when COC1/DDP cells were exposed to 2 μM MPPa for 20 h and then 1 J/cm2 irradiation of LED source. These data demonstrated that LED-activated MPPa significantly deactivated cisplatin-resistant ovarian cell line COC1/DDP cells and enhanced apoptosis and decreased ΔΨm, which suggests LED is an efficient light source for PDT and LED-activated MPPa can be developed as new modality for treating cisplatin-resistant ovarian.