# Effect of Photosensitiser Chlorin E6 on Cancerous Bone Tumor Cells Using Photodynamic Therapy

**Authors:** Frank Traub, Muhammad A. Panezai, Michaela Moisch, Julia Melke, Leonard Schöbel, Tilmann Busse, Fei Xing, Jiachen Sun, Ulrike Ritz

PMC · DOI: 10.32604/or.2025.071919 · Oncology Research · 2026-02-24

## TL;DR

This study explores how photodynamic therapy with chlorin e6 affects bone cancer cells, showing it can reduce cell growth and migration, especially in osteosarcoma and breast cancer metastases.

## Contribution

This is the first study to analyze the effect of photodynamic therapy with chlorin e6 on bone cancers and metastases.

## Key findings

- PDT with Ce6 significantly reduced proliferation in osteosarcoma and breast cancer bone metastases cells.
- PDT also inhibited the migration of these cancerous bone tumor cells.
- A strong correlation was found between PDT effectiveness and CD164 gene expression levels.

## Abstract

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive method used in the treatment of various cancers and skin diseases, but it is not widely used in bone cancer, where the current therapy is often not effective and accompanied by side effects. Alternative and more effective therapies like PDT are needed. In this in-vitro study, the effect of the photosensitizer (PS) chlorin e6 (Ce6) on cancerous bone tumor cells using PDT was examined.

A total of 27 tissue specimens from patients with primary bone cancers or bone metastases of different origins were genetically characterized and treated with PDT. Following a 24-h incubation, cell viability was determined, and the effect of PDT on cell migration was analyzed over 48 h.

We could demonstrate that the effect on proliferation of PDT in combination with the PS Ce6 was best in cells isolated from primary osteosarcoma and in bone metastases from mammary carcinomas. Besides proliferation, PDT was also effective in inhibiting the migration of these cells. A statistically significant correlation between the PDT effect and CD164 gene expression was detected, indicating that a high expression of this gene could result in a higher effectiveness of the photodynamic treatment.

This study analyzes for the first time the effect of PDT in bone cancers and metastases and shows the potential of treating these cancer types with Ce6 PDT.

## Linked entities

- **Genes:** CD164 (CD164 molecule) [NCBI Gene 8763]
- **Chemicals:** chlorin e6 (PubChem CID 5360596)
- **Diseases:** osteosarcoma (MONDO:0002623), breast cancer (MONDO:0004989)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** CD164 (CD164 molecule) [NCBI Gene 395380], GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) [NCBI Gene 2597] {aka G3PD, GAPD, HEL-S-162eP}, MCAM (melanoma cell adhesion molecule) [NCBI Gene 4162] {aka CD146, HEMCAM, METCAM, MUC18, MelCAM}, MTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase) [NCBI Gene 2475] {aka FRAP, FRAP1, FRAP2, RAFT1, RAPT1, SKS}, CD164 (CD164 molecule) [NCBI Gene 8763] {aka DFNA66, MGC-24, MGC-24v, MUC-24, endolyn}, MAPK8 (mitogen-activated protein kinase 8) [NCBI Gene 5599] {aka JNK, JNK-46, JNK1, JNK1A2, JNK21B1/2, PRKM8}, SDC1 (syndecan 1) [NCBI Gene 6382] {aka CD138, SDC, SYND1, syndecan}, MET (MET proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinase) [NCBI Gene 4233] {aka AUTS9, DA11, DFNB97, HGFR, RCCP2, c-Met}, AKT1 (AKT serine/threonine kinase 1) [NCBI Gene 207] {aka AKT, PKB, PKB-ALPHA, PRKBA, RAC, RAC-ALPHA}
- **Diseases:** chondrosarcoma (MESH:D002813), necrotic (MESH:D009336), breast cancers (MESH:D001943), retinoblastomas (MESH:D012175), bone sarcomas (MESH:D001847), soft tissue carcinoma (MESH:D012983), Ewing sarcoma (MESH:D012512), carcinogenic (MESH:D011230), bone metastases (MESH:D009362), squamous cell carcinoma (MESH:D002294), osteo sarcoma (MESH:D009261), hypoxia (MESH:D000860), chondro- and soft tissue sarcoma (MESH:D012509), neuroblastomas (MESH:D009447), hypoxic (MESH:D002534), lung cancer (MESH:D008175), adenocarcinoma (MESH:D000230), Tumor (MESH:D009369), pain (MESH:D010146), Cancerous Bone Tumor (MESH:D001859), PC (MESH:D015324), skin diseases (MESH:D012871), Trauma (MESH:D014947), osteosarcoma (MESH:D012516), inflammatory (MESH:D007249), prostate cancer (MESH:D011471), melanoma (MESH:D008545)
- **Chemicals:** DMSO (MESH:D004121), Ce6 (MESH:C062985), ROS (MESH:D017382), PBS (MESH:D007854), Photofrin (MESH:D017323), alamarBlue (MESH:C005843), CO2 (MESH:D002245), SYBR   Green (MESH:C098022), penicillin (MESH:D010406), Ce6 working (-), S (MESH:D013455), Purpurin 18 (MESH:C059051), 5-ALA (MESH:C000614854), Methylene Blue (MESH:D008751), chlorophyll (MESH:D002734), streptomycin (MESH:D013307), P (MESH:D010758), oxygen (MESH:D010100)
- **Species:** Gallus gallus (bantam, species) [taxon 9031], Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606], Mycoplasma (genus) [taxon 2093], Mus musculus (house mouse, species) [taxon 10090]
- **Cell lines:** 143B — Homo sapiens (Human), Osteosarcoma, Cancer cell line (CVCL_2270), SaOS-2 — Homo sapiens (Human), Osteosarcoma, Cancer cell line (CVCL_0548), MG-63 — Homo sapiens (Human), Osteosarcoma, Cancer cell line (CVCL_0426), HOS — Homo sapiens (Human), Osteosarcoma, Cancer cell line (CVCL_0312), HTB-85 — Mus musculus (Mouse), Hybridoma (CVCL_A8FQ)

## Full text

_Full body text omitted from this summary view._ Fetch the complete paper as Markdown: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12963686/full.md

## Figures

5 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12963686/full.md

## References

59 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12963686/full.md

---
Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12963686