Photodynamic therapy by using Ruthenium porphyrin on the AY27 rat bladder cancer cell line

Abstract. Photodynamic therapy is a noninvasive treatment of solid tumors, using photosensitisers, which after activation by light produce reactive oxygen species that selectively destroy target cells. Current focus highlights the photophysical characteristics and the effects of the treatment of the 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-OCTAETHYL-21H, 23H-PORPHINE RUTHENIUM(II) CARBONYL (RuP) upon rat bladder cancer cells (Ay27). Photophysical properties of the porphyrin were assessed using: time resolved spectroscopy, life time measurements. The obtained results have shown that RuP is an excellent photosensitizer, suitable for Photodynamic therapy application (PDT). In vitro experiments indicated that the phototoxic effect of RuP is significantly higher, after irradiation (453nm) with RuP upon Ay27, compared to the cytotoxic effect (due to non-irradiation, without light). Confocal microscopy experiments also confirmed higher apoptotic effect of RuP, after irradiation. Additionally, we found that the effect of RuP is higher than the effect of the conventional chemotherapy drug cisplatin, both evaluated by MTT assay. In conclusion, RuP significantly enhanced its phototoxic effect upon AY27 cells, which indicated a potential for further investigations focused on selective treatment of non-suscle invasive bladder cancer.