Phenazines and Photoactive Formulations: Promising Photodrugs for Photodynamic Therapy

Abstract

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is a therapeutic modality that can be applied with many photosensitizing compounds (PS). Photosensitization has shown promising results in damage against abnormal cell growth as cancer and inactivating a broad spectrum of microorganisms with no reported microbial resistance. Photodynamic processes occur by the light action at the appropriate wavelength in the presence of a PS that will be excited by the energy absorbed from the light source, where the interaction with the oxygen present in the cell will generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). The potential of phenazines as a photosensitizer is reviewed in this chapter as a practical guide to the future development of formulations that are effective for cancer treatment and microorganism control. Here we mainly summarize articles about phenazines from 2005 to 2021 when we performed a systematic search in the Science Direct, PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. The carrier systems formed by micellar copolymers type Pluronic® have demonstrated effectiveness in incorporating several PS, ensuring its monomeric form for PDT applications. The fundamentals of the photosensitization mechanism are discussed. Studies have shown the beneficial impact of an appropriate incorporation technique to enhance the cellular uptake of phenazines compounds.