Investigation of Caspase 9 Gene Expression and Apoptosis Induction after Photodynamic Therapy with Zinc Phthalocyanine in SW872 Skin Cancer Cell Line

The treatment of cancer comes as a great challenge worldwide. Thus the development of effective therapies with minimal side effects is important. Photodynamic therapy is a non-invasive and new therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the photodynamic effects of a light-sensitive compound, Zinc-phthalocyanine (ZnPc), on cell growth and the expression of caspase-9 in SW872 cell line.
For cytotoxic effects of photodynamic therapy with ZnPc, MTT assay was conducted. Quantifying the level of caspase-9 gene expression was carried out with qRT-PCR. The statistical analysis was done by GraphPad Prism 6 software.
MTT assay results showed that photodynamic therapy with ZnPc significantly reduced cancer cell growth. The IC50 for cell line SW872 was 0/034 μg/ml in a 24 J/cm2 light source. qRT-PCR results showed that photodynamic therapy with ZnPc increased the gene expression of caspase-9 in the treated group.
Photodynamic therapy with ZnPc resulted in decreased cell growth and induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner in SW872 cell lines. Based on the results, photodynamic therapy with ZnPc can be a powerful therapeutic approach for the treatment of skin cancer with minimal side effects.