Improvement of tumor localization of photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy and its application for tumor diagnosis.

Abstract

Abstract: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photodynamic diagnosis of cancer are widely used in clinical fields. These are performed using photosensitizers. Many metalloporphyrin-related compounds have been developed as photosensitizers for use in PDT, and these tumor localization ability have been improved in recent research. Moreover, the precursor of porphyrin 5-aminolevulinic acid is used in fluorescence diagnosis using its tumor localization ability. In this review, these applications of photosensitizers in cancer therapy and diagnosis are summarized.