Small Molecule Enhancers of Photodynamic Therapy for Skin Cancer
Project Leader: Edward Maytin, MD PhD
Project 1 will establish clinical efficacy through phase I and II studies of combination therapies using small molecules, e.g., 5-FU and Vitamin D, that sensitize the tumor to effective ALA-based PDT for human non-melanoma skin cancer.
Non-melanoma skin cancer, including basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), are the most common of all cancers. Together these cancers affect over 3,000,000 people in the U.S., and are the fifth most expensive group of cancers to treat in both the U.S. and Europe.1,2
Project 1 will focus on two areas of NMSC management
- Treatment and prevention of frequent and aggressive squamous cell carcinoma, a serious problem in organ transplant patients
- The use of PDP to treat basal cell carcinoma, the most frequent of all cancers, and a major player in terms of healthcare costs and treatment-induced scarring.
PDT offers unique advantages over surgery or ionizing radiation for the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers. ALA-PDT is a scar-free treatment modality that can be repeated indefinitely without mutagenic risk. Project 1 utilizes ALA-PDT in combination with one or more of the proposed adjunctive treatments and provides new options for patients and physicians who treat non-melanoma skin cancer.
Additionally, an aim of this project will emphasize the clinical study of SCC and BCC with a mechanistic focus on immunological outcomes. This project will also collaborate with Core B to detect multiple immune markers using hyperspectral techniques of SCC 3D-stratified models and patient-derived organoids. This study represents the first clinical-translational systematic study to examine PDP with 5FU and VitD priming as a combination approach for nonmelanoma skin cancer.