Immune-modulating properties of blue light do not influence reepithelization in vitro

Phototherapy is gaining more attention in the treatment of various diseases. Especially, blue light seems to be a promising approach for wound healing promotion due to its antimicrobial and immune-modulating properties. Despite this, there is only little research focusing on the immune-modulating properties of blue light and its possible effects on wound healing. Therefore, we investigated the effects of blue light irradiation on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and the influence on reepithelization in vitro. PBMCs were irradiated with DermoDyne® (DermoDyne HealthCare, Berlin, Germany) and effects on cell viability, cytokine expression, and scratch wound closure were evaluated afterwards. Irradiated cells showed a higher Interleukin-γ concentration while irradiation reduced resazurin concentration in a time-dependent manner. No differences in reepithelization were detectable when keratinocytes were treated with the supernatant of these blue light irradiated PBMCs. Blue light–mediated ex vivo stimulation of PBMCs does not cause faster reepithelization in an in vitro setting. Further research is needed to investigate the wound healing effects of phototherapy with blue light.