ScOp and Photodynamic Therapy in tissues infected by HPV

ETCHEVERRY, MARIA EUGENIA; CORTI AGUSTINA; GARAVAGLIA MARIO

Trieste

Congreso; ICGEB (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology) DNA Tumour Virus Meeting; 2015

Our present work is based on previous experiences that have been started in 1979 in the medical area where ionizing and optical radiations were employed, also by taking into account all the modern optics knowledge related with the development of surgeries, treatments and diagnostics. Physicians, physicists, chemists, biochemists, biologists, veterinarians, engineers, dentists and other professionals, have participated and collaborated with us along the time. In the last two years we have found spectral similarities in the detection of cancer and infectious diseases of their natural and induced fluorescence. Specifically, in the few analyzed cases of DNA-HPV+ patients, we observed in all of their fluorescence spectra the same type of relevant peaks. We called this technical procedure Screening Óptico (ScOp®) (Part in English and part in Spanish) which is based on the observation of the excited fluorescence by lasers or LEDs emissions. The in-situ fluorescence analysis is related with biochemical and molecular changes in the tissues of patients. Then, by comparing the fluorescence spectra of healthy tissue and infected tissue we can infer that some HPV genotype is present. ScOp® makes comparative observations of the natural fluorescence spectra of a suspicious colposcopic area and its neighbour healthy area, allowing us to make a triage. So, the ScOp® study would be innovative in the field of gynecology, infectology, and oncology since it is a noninvasive diagnostic procedure which allows exploring tissues (skin and mucous membranes) several millimetres in depth. Then, the ScOp® as well as the colposcopy, produced the same results in terms of "lesion location". What is more, ScOp® will provide information about the active neoplastic process in situ. Finally, it should be mentioned that the diagnosis result by SCOP can be significantly enhanced by the administration of specific photosensitizers whose molecules will be introduced into neoplastic cells and produce a more intense fluorescent emission when they are illuminated by the same lasers or LEDs emissions. This procedure is called Photodynamic Diagnostic (PDD), which also allow us the alternative to introduce the Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) of HPV related lesions, as applies to tumours of the head and neck, lung, esophagus, bladder, etc.