Phototherapy in Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Phototherapy has reached new heights with the technological breakthroughs of the past four decades, such as using lasers as the light sources, and nanoparticles as the sensitizers. Phototherapy has been commonly employed in either diagnosis or therapeutics lately. Phototherapy demonstrates excellent results in targeting the cause of many diseases. It functions by immunologically delivering and chronically releasing diagnostic and therapeutic agents, and by inducing tissue immunological response and enhancing synergizing immunotherapy. Phototherapy can act as an immunological agent by initiating immunological responses resulting in stimulation of innate immune system. It also destructs established tumor cells by selective photochemical and photothermal interactions, release tumor antigens, and create an in situ cancer vaccine. The synergistic effects of Photoimmunotherapy raise the possibility to improve clinical outcomes. We anticipate that shortly there will be significant advances in the area of PIT, with the better understanding of the induction of antitumor immune response by phototherapy and further development of immunotherapy.