St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) photomedicine: hypericin-photodynamic therapy induces metastatic melanoma cell death.

ABSTRACT: Hypericin, an extract from St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.), is a promising photosensitizer in the context of clinical photodynamic therapy due to its excellent photosensitizing properties and tumoritropic characteristics. Hypericin-PDT induced cytotoxicity elicits tumor cell death by various mechanisms including apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy-related cell death. However, limited reports on the efficacy of this photomedicine for the treatment of melanoma have been published. Melanoma is a highly aggressive tumor due to its metastasizing potential and resistance to conventional cancer therapies. The aim of this study was to investigate the response mechanisms of melanoma cells to hypericin-PDT in an in vitro tissue culture model. Hypericin was taken up by all melanoma cells and p

SUBMITTER: Kleemann B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4116257 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature