Photobiomodulation by infrared radiation on hallmarks of cancer

Photobiomodulation (PBM) is a therapeutic technique that utilizes non-ionizing radiation, such as infrared radiation, which is capable of stimulating or inhibiting biological processes. Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell growth and proliferation in any body structure, allowing it to invade other tissues. Cancer exhibits distinct biological characteristics, the so-called hallmarks of cancer. Despite the therapeutic benefits of PBM, and cancers affect millions of people worldwide, the mechanisms involved in PBM, as those induced by infrared A radiation, on cancer are not yet fully elucidated. Thus, we aimed to review the effects of PBM induced by infrared radiation on the hallmarks of cancer. For this, studies on the effects of PBM induced by infrared A radiation on in vitro and in vivo experimental models of cancer were accessed via MEDLINE/PubMed. The data accessed showed that effects of PBM induced by infrared A radiation were evaluated on four hallmarks of cancer (sustaining proliferative signaling, evading growth suppressors, genomic instability and mutation, and resisting cell death) but not on the other ten ones (enabling replicative immortality, non-mutational epigenetic reprogramming, avoiding immune destruction, tumor-promoting inflammation, polymorphic microbiomes, activating invasion and metastasis, inducing or accessing vasculature, senescent cells, deregulation cellular energetics, unlocking phenotypic plasticity). Thus, considering the therapeutic benefits of PBM, evaluation of the effects of PBM on the hallmarks of cancer can also bring such benefits to oncologic patients.