Effects of methylene blue photodynamic therapy on oral carcinoma and leukoplakia cells
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Published on: October 27, 2023
Mina N Le1, Beverly R Wuertz1, Merrill A Biel1
1Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery University of Minnesota Minneapolis Minnesota USA.
Objective:
Methylene blue (MB) is a readily available and affordable substrate that can be used as a photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy (PDT). The objective of this study was to determine if PDT with MB can downregulate matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) related to oral carcinoma.
Methods:
Cell cultures of oral squamous cell carcinoma (CA-9-22), oral leukoplakia (MSK-Leuk1), and immortalized keratinocytes (Rhek-1A) were photosensitized with MB and treated with PDT. MMP-9 gene expression was interrogated via qRT-PCR. The 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to confirm the efficacy of MB PDT.
Results:
MMP-9 gene expression was found to be significantly decreased in oral carcinoma, leukoplakia, and immortalized keratinocytes with use of MB PDT.
Conclusion:
This work demonstrates that MB-mediated PDT can downregulate MMPs which are critical to the invasion and metastasis of oral cancer. These results suggest that MB PDT could be a clinically significant and cost-effective treatment for oral leukoplakia and carcinoma.
Level Of Evidence:
NA.
