Effects of methylene blue photodynamic therapy on oral carcinoma and leukoplakia cells.

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.

Phase 1/2a, open-label, multicenter study of RM-1929 photoimmunotherapy in patients with locoregional, recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (rHNSCC) represents a significant global health burden with an unmet medical need. In this study we determined the safety and efficacy of RM-1929 photoimmunotherapy in patients with heavily pretreated rHNSCC.

Methods: RM-1929 (anti-EGFR-IR700 dye conjugate) was infused, followed by tumor illumination.

A phase I, single-center, open-label study of RM-1929 photoimmunotherapy in Japanese patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: To determine the safety, preliminary efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity of a single cycle of RM-1929 photoimmunotherapy, an anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab conjugated with a light-activatable dye (IRDye700DX), in Japanese patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (rHNSCC).

Methods: Patients received a single fixed dose (640 mg/m) of RM-1929 and a fixed light treatment dose (50 J/cm for superficial illumination; 100 J/cm fiber diffuser length for interstitial illumination). Safety, tumor response (modified RECIST v1.

Successful Translation of Fluorescence Navigation During Oncologic Surgery: A Consensus Report.

Navigation with fluorescence guidance has emerged in the last decade as a promising strategy to improve the efficacy of oncologic surgery. To achieve routine clinical use, the onus is on the surgical community to objectively assess the value of this technique. This assessment may facilitate both Food and Drug Administration approval of new optical imaging agents and reimbursement for the imaging procedures.

Id1 and NF-κB promote the generation of CD133+ and BMI-1+ keratinocytes and the growth of xenograft tumors in mice.

Id1 and NF-κB are highly expressed in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Whether they have a synergistic role in the carcinogenesis of OSCC is unclear. The current study was designed to demonstrate the synergy of both Id1 and NF-κB in the underlying disease mechanisms of OSCC using in vitro and in vivo animal models.

Photodynamic therapy of antibiotic-resistant biofilms in a maxillary sinus model.

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States. There is a significant subpopulation of CRS patients who remain resistant to cure despite rigorous treatment regimens including surgery, allergy therapy, and prolonged antibiotic therapy. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is a noninvasive nonantibiotic broad spectrum antimicrobial treatment.

The effect of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy on human ciliated respiratory mucosa.

Background: Chronic recurrent sinusitis (CRS) is one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States. There is a significant subpopulation of CRS patients who remain resistant to cure despite rigorous treatment regimens including surgery, allergy therapy, and prolonged antibiotic therapy. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is a noninvasive nonantibiotic broad spectrum antimicrobial treatment.

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy treatment of chronic recurrent sinusitis biofilms.

Background: Chronic recurrent sinusitis (CRS) is an inflammatory disease of the facial sinuses and nasal passages that is defined as lasting longer than 12 weeks or occurring more than 4 times per year with symptoms usually lasting more than 20 days. The National Institute for Health Statistics estimates that CRS is one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States, affecting an estimated 37 million Americans. The potential etiologies of CRS include bacteria, viruses, allergies, fungi, superantigens, and microbial biofilms.

Reduction of Endotracheal Tube Biofilms Using Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is reported to occur in 12 to 25% of patients who require mechanical ventilation with a mortality rate of 24 to 71%. The endotracheal (ET) tube has long been recognized as a major factor in the development of VAP since biofilm harbored within the ET tube become dislodged during mechanical ventilation and have direct access to the lungs. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of a non-invasive antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) treatment method of eradicating antibiotic resistant biofilms from ET tubes in an in vitro model.

The future of medical diagnostics: review paper.

While histopathology of excised tissue remains the gold standard for diagnosis, several new, non-invasive diagnostic techniques are being developed. They rely on physical and biochemical changes that precede and mirror malignant change within tissue. The basic principle involves simple optical techniques of tissue interrogation.

At the frontiers of surgery: review.

The complete surgical removal of disease is a desirable outcome particularly in oncology. Unfortunately much disease is microscopic and difficult to detect causing a liability to recurrence and worsened overall prognosis with attendant costs in terms of morbidity and mortality. It is hoped that by advances in optical diagnostic technology we could better define our surgical margin and so increase the rate of truly negative margins on the one hand and on the other hand to take out only the necessary amount of tissue and leave more unaffected non-diseased areas so preserving function of vital structures.

Factors influencing tumor response to photodynamic therapy sensitized by intratumor administration of methylene blue.

Background And Objectives: We examined tumor response to methylene blue (MB)-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT) in a murine tumor model. The goal was to investigate the effects of drug-light interval (DLI), injection vehicle, and fluence on tumor destruction. Fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy informed our understanding.

Photodynamic therapy of head and neck cancers.

Over 1,500 patients have been treated with PDT using Photofrin, HPD, ALA, or Foscan for head and neck cancers. These patients include a mixture of presentations including primary, recurrent, and metastatic lesions. The predominant histology is squamous cell carcinoma, but other histologies treated include mucosal melanoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, adenocarcinoma, metastatic breast carcinoma, and adenoid cystic carcinoma.

Photodynamic therapy of bacterial and fungal biofilm infections.

Biofilms have been found to be involved in a wide variety of microbial infections in the body, by one estimate 80% of all infections. Infectious processes in which biofilms have been implicated include common problems such as urinary tract infections, catheter infections, middle-ear infections, sinusitis, formation of dental plaque, gingivitis, coating contact lenses, endocarditis, infections in cystic fibrosis, and infections of permanent indwelling devices such as joint prostheses and heart valves. Bacteria living in a biofilm usually have significantly different properties from free-floating bacteria of the same species, as the dense and protected environment of the film allows them to cooperate and interact in various ways.

Photodynamic therapy for head and neck dysplasia and cancer.

Objective: To determine the response of dysplasia, carcinoma in situ (CIS), and T1 carcinoma of the oral cavity and larynx to photodynamic therapy with porfimer sodium.

Design: Prospective trial.

Setting: A National Cancer Institute-designated cancer institute.

Head & neck optical diagnostics: vision of the future of surgery.

Review paper and Proceedings of the Inaugural Meeting of the Head and Neck Optical Diagnostics Society (HNODS) on March 14th 2009 at University College London. The aim of our research must be to provide breakthrough translational research which can be applied clinically in the immediate rather than the near future. We are fortunate that this is indeed a possibility and may fundamentally change current clinical and surgical practice to improve our patients' lives.

Photodynamic therapy treatment of early oral and laryngeal cancers.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a nonsurgical, minimally invasive treatment that uses a light source to activate light-sensitive drugs or photosensitizers in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. PDT has been successfully employed to treat early carcinomas of the oral cavity and larynx preserving normal tissue and vital functions of speech and swallowing. Two hundred seventy-six patients with early carcinomas of the oral cavity and larynx were treated from 1990 to 2006.

Open-label, long-term safety study of cevimeline in the treatment of postirradiation xerostomia.

Purpose: To assess the safety of long-term cevimeline treatment of radiation-induced xerostomia in patients with head-and-neck cancer; and to assess the efficacy of cevimeline in these patients.

Methods And Materials: A total of 255 adults with head-and-neck cancer who had received more than 40 Gy of radiation 4 months or more before entry and had clinically significant salivary gland dysfunction received cevimeline hydrochloride 45 mg t.i.

Cevimeline for the treatment of postirradiation xerostomia in patients with head and neck cancer.

Purpose: To study the efficacy and safety of cevimeline in two double-blind trials (Studies 003 and 004) enrolling patients with head and neck cancer in whom xerostomia developed after radiotherapy.

Methods And Materials: Subjects were randomly assigned to receive cevimeline, 30 mg three times daily, or placebo for 12 weeks, with the possibility of dose escalation to 45 mg three times daily at 6 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was the patient's final global evaluation of oral dryness; change in unstimulated salivary flow was a secondary endpoint.

Effect of Ca+ on the photobactericidal efficacy of methylene blue and toluidine blue against gram-negative bacteria and the dye affinity for lipopolysaccharides.

Background And Objectives: Methylene blue (MB) and toluidine blue (TB) form metachromatic complexes with lipopolysaccharides (LPS). The greater photobactericidal efficacy of TB may be explained by its affinity for LPS. This study aims to elucidate the difference in photobactericidal efficacies between the dyes using Ca(2+) as a competitor for dye-binding sites on the bacterial outer membrane.

Impact of sentinel node status and other risk factors on the clinical outcome of head and neck melanoma patients.

Objective: To determine the impact of sentinel lymph node (SLN) status and other risk factors on recurrence and overall survival in head and neck melanoma patients.

Design: The SLN Working Group, based in San Francisco, Calif, with its 11 member centers, the John Wayne Cancer Institute, and The University of Texas M. D.

Survival impact of planned restaging and early surgical salvage following definitive chemoradiation for locally advanced squamous cell carcinomas of the oropharynx and hypopharynx.

Objectives: Patients who have received definitive radiation therapy (RT) for a nonlaryngeal T3/4 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma have a limited opportunity for post-RT surgical salvage. The authors reviewed the practice of planned post-RT restaging to determine its impact on the success of early surgical salvage.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed for patients with resectable T3/4 cancers of the oropharynx and hypopharynx treated with RT +/- chemotherapy who underwent planned restaging clinically, radiographically (CT or MRI), and by direct laryngoscopy with biopsy at 4 to 8 weeks post-RT.

mTHPC-mediated photodynamic therapy in patients with advanced, incurable head and neck cancer: a multicenter study of 128 patients.

Background: The aim of this multicenter study was to assess tumor response, clinical quality-of-life benefit, survival, and safety after treatment with mTHPC in patients with recurrent/refractory squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck unsuccessfully treated or unsuitable for treatment with conventional modalities.

Methods: One hundred twenty-eight patients were treated with mTHPC followed, 96 hours later, by illumination of the tumor surface with 652-nm laser light. Tumor response was assessed with WHO criteria and tumor mass reduction from baseline.