EACR25-2370

Exploring the impact of photodynamic therapy conditioning on endometrial cancer cells

G. Neto1, B. Serambeque2, S. Pinto Lopes1, L. Amaral1, M. Carvalho3, M. Pineiro4, M. Botelho5, T. MVD Pinho e Melo4, M. Laranjo5
1Univ Coimbra, Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR) Area of Environment Genetics and Oncobiology (CIMAGO), Institute of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Coimbra, Portugal
2Univ Coimbra, Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB); Univ Coimbra, Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR) Area of Environment Genetics and Oncobiology (CIMAGO), Institute of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Coimbra, Portugal
3Univ Coimbra, Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR) area of Environment Genetics and Oncobiology (CIMAGO), Institute of Biophysics and Universitary Clinic of Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine; Gynecology Service, Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics, Reproduction and Neonatology, Unidade Local de Saúde de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
4Univ Coimbra, Coimbra Chemistry Centre - Institute of Molecular Sciences and Department of Chemistry, Coimbra, Portugal
5Univ Coimbra, Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR) Area of Environment Genetics and Oncobiology (CIMAGO), Institute of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine; Clinical Academic Centre of Coimbra (CACC), Coimbra, Portugal
Introduction:

Endometrial cancer (EC), which primarily affects post-menopausal women, also impacts young women (5% under 40), posing challenges regarding treatment options. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which induces cytotoxicity in tumour cells using a photosensitiser (PS), light and molecular oxygen, has become a promising conservative treatment for EC, especially in women with a reproductive desire or high surgical risk. PDT is minimally invasive, maintains anatomy and organ function, and has few adverse reactions. Even so, PDT can present some challenges, such as insufficient light penetration into deeper tissues, insufficient accumulation of PS and hypoxia in certain tumour areas. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate how the remaining EC cells after PDT behave, focusing on their division, migration and invasion ability.

Material and method:

HEC-1-A and ECC-1 cell lines were treated with two PS, the dihydroxymethyl derivative of tetraphenylchlorin (PX1) and temoporfin, at an inhibitory concentration of 25% of cell proliferation and submitted to an irradiation for activation after 24 hours. Doubling time (DT), migration and invasion studies were performed after 72 hours of this conditioning protocol.

Result and discussion:

The cell line DT was not significantly affected by the PDT conditioning with PX1 and temoporfin. While untreated and PX1-conditioned HEC-1-A cell migration significantly reduced the gap from 72 hours (p < 0.04), temoporfin-conditioned cells showed a significant gap decrease immediately after 48 hours (p = 0.005). ECC-1 cells showed limited migration without significant differences between controls and conditioned cells until 72 hours. Concerning the invasion capacity, conditioning with PX1 and temoporfin also did not induce changes both in HEC-1-A (1.09 and 0.91) and ECC-1 (0.99 and 1.02) cells, respectively.

Conclusion:

The results indicate that the remaining EC cells exhibited similar DT and invasion profiles after PDT. Nevertheless, temoporfin appears to potentiate the migration ability of HEC-1-A cells. FCT supports CIBB (doi:10.54499/UIDB/04539/2020; doi:10.54499/UIDP/04539/2020; doi:10.54499/LA/P/0058/2020); CQC (doi:10.54499/UIDB/00313/2020; doi:10.54499/UIDP/00313/2020; TEMA (doi:10.54499/UIDB/00481/2020), UIDP/00481/2020 (doi:10.54499/UIDP/00481/2020); Projects CarboNCT (doi:10.54499/2022.03596.PTDC) and Chem4LungCare (doi:10.54499/PTDC/QUI-QOR/0103/2021); PhD Scholarship from FCT and European Social Fund to BS (10.54499/2020.07672.BD).