Efficacy of EGFR Targeting IR700-Related Photoimmunotherapy in Preventing Growth of Cancer Cells-A Systematic Review.

Introduction: Research of Near-Infrared Photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) related to human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in cancer is very popular in recent years. By destroying the cell membrane, NIR-PIT can kill cancer cells and prevent tumor development. By using a statistical method, our study aims to find out the suitable indices for evaluating the efficacy of EGFR-targeted NIR-PIT.

Methods: Exploring strategy: (mice OR vivo study OR animal model) AND (NIR-PIT OR near-infrared photoimmunotherapy OR photoimmunotherapy) AND (EGFR OR EGFR receptor) AND (cancer OR tumor). Including standard: ① Reports could obtain full text from 2014 to 2024. ② Reports using tumor volume as an index of outcome. ③ Reports using IR-700, NIR-PIT, and EGFR antigens. The exclusion criteria were as follows: ① Reports could not obtain the full text. ② Reports that did not use the index above. ③ Reports that did not use IR-700, NIR-PIT, or EGFR antigens. ④ Reports could not obtain concrete data from articles.

Results: Using the above standards, we finally acquired 20 articles that conformed to requests. In this analysis, tumor volume showed statistical meaning of differentiation between experimental and control groups. However, 50% survival did not show the statistical meaning in the analysis.

Discussion: Through analysis, we found that the NIR-PIT groups had obvious differences compared with the control groups in tumor volume. However, we did not find any difference in the survival rates between NIR-PIT and control groups. This may be due to the following reasons: ① the number of samples was insufficient. ② Other indices of survival rate were more suitable in this study than 50% survival rate.

Conclusion: Compared with 50% survival rate, tumor volume may be better for evaluating the efficacy of NIR-PIT.