Photodynamic therapy for melanoma:a multifaceted anti-cancer treatment against malignant melanoma

The treatment of patients with malignant melanoma remains complex and unsatisfactory. Conventional treatment strategies have been almost ineffective. Dacarbazine (DTIC) is identified as one of the most effective chemotherapy drugs against melanoma with a response rate of around 15–20%. Numerous patients with melanoma whom their primarily response to surgery subsequently relapse. Obviously, there is an essential need for better identification, where the improvement of potential treatments is warranted. One such treatment is photodynamic therapy (PDT), in which an agent (photosensitizer, PS) produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) for post-irradiation of cancer cells (containing PS). This study reviews the currently discovered potential of PDT and their combinations in treating metastatic melanoma with discussion of the impact of different PDT strategies on cancer treatment . Based on different studies, we realize that PDT with different strategies has shown to have powerful anti-cancer effects on reducing cell viability, metastasis ability, and the induction of apoptosis in different types of melanomas (in vitro and/or in vivo studies). More Important, promising outcomes have been reported in the reduction of recurrence rate after PDT-treatment. Also, PDT is a manageable therapeutic approach that may offer an additional powerful option for adjuvant therapy of patients with melanoma. Combinations of PDT with doxorubicin, temozolomide, and DTIC have revealed better response rates, suggesting that PDT is as effective as the other combination treatments. PDT, both as a single treatment strategy and in combination with conventional treatment strategies, can be a promising treatment option for patients with metastatic melanoma. In this paper we summarize the importance of PDT and its multifaceted activation response in melanoma. More importantly, potential PDT strategies as an adjuvant therapy are reviewed to provide a break through to the limitation of current anti-melanoma therapies.