Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy (2011) 8, 7—13
available at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pdpdt
Enhancement of blood porphyrin emission intensity
with aminolevulinic acid administration: A new
concept for photodynamic diagnosis of early
prostate cancer
Flávia Rodrigues de Oliveira Silva
a
, Maria Helena Bellini
a
,
Camila Tiemi Nabeshima
c
, Nestor Schor
a
, Nilson Dias Vieira Jr
b
,
Lilia Coronato Courrol Ph.D., Physisict
a,c,*
a
UNIFESP — Departamento de Nefrologia, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
b
Centro de Lasers e Aplicac ¸ões, IPEN/CNEN-SP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
c
UNIFESP — Campus Diadema, SP, Brazil
Available online 17 January 2011
KEYWORDS
Aminolevulinic acid;
Porphyrin;
Tumor stage;
Prostate cancer;
Photodynamic
diagnosis
Summary
Background: The objective of this paper was to verify if the oral administration of -
aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in animals with prostate tumor can increase the sensitivity of cancer
diagnosis by protoporphyrin IX blood autofluorescence. In this study, the autofluorescence of
blood porphyrin was analyzed using fluorescence spectroscopy on healthy male NUDE mice and
in those with prostate cancer induced by the inoculation of DU145 cells.
Methods: A total of 18 male NUDE mice, ∼8 weeks old on arrival were divided into 3 groups:
Control, Tumor and ALA Tumor. The autofluorescence of blood porphyrin of the groups was
analyzed using fluorescence spectroscopy at different days after tumor induction, to monitor
the tumor progression. Emission spectra were obtained by exciting the samples at 405 nm. The
animals inoculated had their blood collected with and without oral ALA solution administration
to compare PPIX endogenous (Tumor group) and exogenous (ALA Tumor group) signal intensity
and to establish a method to diagnosis early prostate cancer.
Results: Significant differences were observed in autofluorescence intensities measured in the
575—725 nm spectral regions for the studied groups.
Conclusions: The results showed an enhancement of almost 100% in blood PPIX fluorescence,
using the oral administration of -aminolevulinic acid on male NUDE mice with prostate cancer,
making fluorescence measurements more accurate and sensitive since the first week after tumor
induction.
© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
∗
Corresponding author at: UNIFESP — Campus Diadema, SP, Brazil. Tel.: +55 1195811307; fax: +55 1140436428.
E-mail address: lcourrol@gmail.com (L.C. Courrol).
1572-1000/$ — see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.pdpdt.2010.12.006