LAUSR

Regardless of the numerous studies that have been done on cancer treatment, it is still the most challenging disease to treat especially resistance forms like triple negative breast cancer and melanoma cancer. Curcumin and quercetin as two important polyphenols from plants have different biological roles including anti-cancer effect. But their application is limited due to their poor solubility in aqueous medium. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) as a noninvasive method could be applied for different diseases treatment particularly cancer using chemical compound as photosensitizers, light and oxygen. Recently many studies have done on using plant based photosensitizers such as curcumin and quercetin. Here we discussed using of them as PS by making their complex with cerium ions as delivery system for MDA-MB-231 and A375 cancer cell lines treatment. For this purpose, the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line exposed to red light irradiation (as pretreatment) then treated with curcumin and quercetin alone and also their complex with cerium. In another study the cells treated with curcumin-cerium and quercetin-cerium complex and then irradiated with blue light (photodynamic treatment). Cell survival and apoptosis were determined using MTT and fluorescence microscopy. The result showed that curcumin and quercetin in complex with cerium ions have better toxic effect against both breast and melanoma cancer cells in compare to each compound alone. The finding revealed that curcumin and quercetin in cerium complex could be considered as a new approach in the photodynamic treatment of breast and melanoma cancer cells.