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Inhibitive effects of Photofrin on cellular autophagy
Author(s) -
Luo Shiming,
Xing Da,
Wei Yanchun,
Chen Qun
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.22137
Subject(s) - autophagy , photosensitizer , microbiology and biotechnology , lysosome , photodynamic therapy , autophagosome , programmed cell death , chemistry , cell , biology , cancer research , apoptosis , biochemistry , enzyme , organic chemistry
Depending on the circumstances, autophagy can be either a protective or damaging cellular process. The role of autophagy in photodynamic therapy (PDT), a photo‐chemotherapy that utilizes light to activate a photosensitizer drug to achieve localized cellular damage, has been explored in recent years. It has been reported that autophagy in PDT is significantly influenced by the treatment protocol. In this work, the role of Photofrin, a well‐established clinical photosensitizer, in regulating cellular autophagy was investigated. The effects of Photofrin on cellular autophagy induced by conventional starvation or rapamycin techniques were studied. By fluorescence imaging, Western blotting and cell viability assays, it was found that Photofrin can effectively inhibit cellular autophagy induced by starvation or rapamycin. This autophagy blocking is independent of the photosensitizing property of the drug. With Baf‐A1, a well‐established agent that inhibits autophagosome from fusing with lysosome, we also found that, the observed phenomenon is not due to accelerated degradation of existing autophagosomes, thus proving that the drug Photofrin alone, without light excitation, can truly block autophagy. J. Cell. Physiol. 224: 414–422, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.