Progress in overcoming tumor hypoxia and enhancing the efficacy of photodynamic therapy

Abstract:

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been widely used in clinic due to its high safety. The PDT process is highly oxygen-depended, however, hypoxia, as a characteristic of solid tumors, significantly neutralizes the PDT efficacy and limits its application in resisting solid tumors. In recent years, tremendous strategies have been devoted to overcoming the "fatal weakness", tumor hypoxia. In this paper, the latest progress of overcoming tumor hypoxia in enhancing the PDT efficacy are reviewed.