Use of 68Gallium for Cerenkov-induced Photodynamic effect on human U-251 MG glioblastoma cell line.

X-ray-induced Photodynamic Therapy (X-PDT) is an alternative strategy to improve Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT) for cancer treatment [1]. The X-PDT principle is based on the conversion of X-ray photons into visible photons, from nanoscintillator embedded in nanoparticles (NPs) and linked to the photosensitizer, which, in turn, produces singlet oxygen and reactive species. Recently, several lines of evidence demonstrated that radionuclides can be used instead of X-rays irradiation to produce similar photodynamic effect, using NPs containing both nanoscintillator and photosensitizer. [1]. The obtained results are related to the Cerenkov luminescence and it is based on the positrons emission along lifetime of the radionuclides [2].