Rose bengal as a photosensitizer in the photodynamic therapy of breast cancer cell lines

Abstract

Breast cancer implies a very important health problem worldwide since it represents the cancer with the highest incidence and mortality rate among women in 2018. Traditional treatments are not always totally efficient, causing severe systemic side effects, therefore the search for alternative treatments such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) is of vital importance. In the present work, we show the in vitro effects of rose bengal (RB) as a photosensitizer (PS) and green light (500-550 nm) to eliminate two breast cancer cell lines: MDA-MB-231, a triple negative line highly aggressive and invasive, and T47D, a luminal line of the infiltrating ductal type. RB concentrations of 0.5, 1 and 5 μM and radiation fluences of 2.5, 5 and 10 J/cm2 were evaluated. Cell viability was evaluated with the MTT test, obtaining the best effect with 5 μM concentration and 10 J/cm2 light dose.