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Photobiomodulation effects on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in an orthotopic animal model

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Abstract

Background

Photobiomodulation (PBM) has shown efficacy in preventing and treating cancer therapy-induced mucositis and dermatitis. However, there is contradictory information regarding the effect of PBM on (pre)malignant cells, which has led to questions regarding the safety of this technique. We address this issue using an orthotopic mouse model (Cal-33) with human squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.

Methods

Mice with actively growing orthotopic Cal-33 head and neck carcinoma tumors were divided into 4 groups: control, PBM only, radiation therapy (RT) only, and PBM + RT. We performed three experiments: (1) PBM at 660 nm, 18.4 J/cm2, and 5 RT × 4 Gy doses delivered daily; (2) PBM at 660 nm, 18.4 J/cm2, and 1 × 15 Gy RT; and (3) PBM at 660 nm + 850 nm, 45 mW/cm2, 3.4 J/cm2, and 1 × 15 Gy RT. Mice were weighed daily and tumor volumes were evaluated by IVIS. Survival time was also evaluated.

Results

Animals treated with RT survived significantly longer and had significantly smaller tumor volume when compared with the control and PBM-only treatment groups. No significant differences were noted between the RT alone and PBM + RT groups in any of the experiments.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that PBM at the utilized parameters does not provide protection to the tumor from the killing effects of RT.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the following core facilities at MSKCC: Molecular Cytology and Small Animal Imaging.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA008748), the NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Weil Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Ave, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Andrei Barasch

  2. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Hongyan Li, Vinagolu K. Rajasekhar & Adriana Haimovitz-Friedman

  3. Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam and VU University, and University Medical Centers, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Judith Raber-Durlacher

  4. Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles and City of Hope Cancer Center, Duarte, CA, USA

    Joel B. Epstein

  5. Thor Photomedicine Ltd, Chesham, UK

    James Carroll

Authors
  1. Andrei Barasch
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  2. Hongyan Li
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  3. Vinagolu K. Rajasekhar
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  4. Judith Raber-Durlacher
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  5. Joel B. Epstein
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  6. James Carroll
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  7. Adriana Haimovitz-Friedman
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Correspondence to Andrei Barasch.

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Conflict of interest

James Carrol is the CEO of Thor Laser. None of the other authors declare any conflict of interest.

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Barasch, A., Li, H., Rajasekhar, V.K. et al. Photobiomodulation effects on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in an orthotopic animal model. Support Care Cancer 28, 2721–2727 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05060-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05060-0

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