Fluorescent proteins enhance UVC PDT of cancer cells

Cancer cells, with and without fluorescent protein expression, were irradiated with various doses of UVC (100, 400, and 600 J/m(2)). Dual-color Lewis lung carcinoma cells (LLC) and U87 human glioma cells, expressing GFP in the nucleus and RFP in the cytoplasm and non-colored LLC and U87 cells were cultured in 96-well plates. Eight hours after seeding, the cells were irradiated with the various doses of UVC. The resulting cell number was determined after 24 hours. Compared to non-colored LLC cells, the number of dual-color LLC cells decreased significantly due to UVC irradiation with 100 J/m(2) (p=0.003). Although there was no significant difference in the number of dual-color and non-colored U87 cells after 100 J/m(2) UVC irradiation (p=0.852), the number of dual-color U87 cells decreased significantly with respect to non-colored cells due to UVC irradiation with 400 J/m(2) and 600 J/m(2) (p=0.011 and p=0.009, respectively). Thus, both dual-color LLC and dual-color U87 cells were more sensitive to UVC light than non-colored LLC and U87 cells. These results suggest that the expression of fluorescent proteins in cancer cells can enhance photodynamic therapy (PDT) using UVC and possibly with other wavelengths of light as well.