HYPOX (New approaches to overcome the hypoxia challenge in photodynamic therapy)

In the search for alternative approaches to chemotherapy for fighting cancer malignancies, we find photodynamic therapy (PDT), which utilizes harmless light to activate non- or minimally toxic photosensitive molecules called photosensitizers (PS) to generate cytotoxic species for malignant cell suppression.

Important advantages of PDT are the broad applicability (both to localized tumors and infections), high selectivity and spatio-temporal resolution. Moreover, its mode of action does not usually cause the emergence of resistance. Rather, in the case of cancer, it even activates the immune system, while in the case of microbial infections it restores the susceptibility of the microorganisms to antibiotics, which makes PDT an excellent partner for combined treatments with chemotherapeutic drugs or antibiotics. However, PDT struggles in low-oxygen environments like tumours, causing hypoxia. To improve this, the project combines multidisciplinary expertise to develop advanced materials and methods to enhance PDT’s effectiveness, including new light-activated drugs and strategies for better targeting and oxygen use.