LED-activated pheophorbide a induces cellular destruction of colon cancer cells

Pheophorbide a (Pa) from Chinese herbal medicine Scutellaria Barbata and Silkworm Excreta shows an important promise in the photodynamic therapy on malignant tumor. The present study investigated that LED-activated Pa induced the cellular destruction of colon cancer HT-29 cells. The results showed that Pa resulted in a drug-dose dependent photocytotoxicity in the HT-29 cells, meaning the photocytotoxicity of Pa depends on the drug concentration (0-2 mu M). We further investigated the apoptosis of the HT-29 cells 18 hours after photosensitization of Pa using a confocal laser scanning microscopy with Hoechst 33258 staining. These data demonstrated that LED-activated Pa could significantly induce the cellular destruction of the HT-29 cells.