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Photosensitizing effects of hypericin on head neck squamous cell carcinoma in vitro

  • Head and Neck
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Abstract

Clinical outcome of patients suffering from head neck squamous cell carcinomas is still poor due to recurrent disease and surgical limitations. There is still a demand for multimodality approaches and new therapeutic options. Hypericin is a promising phototoxic drug which was investigated for its effects on head neck squamous cell carcinoma cells in vitro. FaDu cells incubated with or without hypericin were illuminated (450–700 nm, 50,000 lx) for different time periods. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide- and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay were used to score metabolic and apoptotic activity. Even after the shortest illumination FaDu cells incubated with hypericin showed massive reduction of metabolism and excessive apoptosis. This was present even with the lowest hypericin concentration. Cells without hypericin or without illumination were not affected. These photosensitizing effects of hypericin could be suitable for clinical application and could lead to the development of an intraoperative photodynamic therapy of head neck squamous cell carcinomas.

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Acknowledgments

This study was not supported by any grant.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105, Bonn, Germany

    Wiebke Laffers, Andreas O. H. Gerstner & Friedrich Bootz

  2. Department of Nephrology/Rheumatology, Center of Internal Medicine, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Ann-Christin Busse, Jens Mahrt, Phuc Nguyen & Johannes T. Wessels

  3. Molecular and Optical Live Cell Imaging (MOLCI), University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Ann-Christin Busse, Jens Mahrt, Phuc Nguyen & Johannes T. Wessels

  4. Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Ann-Christin Busse

  5. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Staedtisches Klinikum Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

    Andreas O. H. Gerstner

Authors
  1. Wiebke Laffers
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  2. Ann-Christin Busse
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  3. Jens Mahrt
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  4. Phuc Nguyen
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  5. Andreas O. H. Gerstner
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  6. Friedrich Bootz
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  7. Johannes T. Wessels
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Correspondence to Wiebke Laffers.

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Laffers, W., Busse, AC., Mahrt, J. et al. Photosensitizing effects of hypericin on head neck squamous cell carcinoma in vitro. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 272, 711–718 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-014-2984-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-014-2984-8

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