Abstract
Administration of 5-aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) leads to porphyrin accumulation in malignant and premalignant tissues, and ALA is used as a prodrug in photodynamic therapy (PDT). To understand the mechanism of porphyrin accumulation after the administration of ALA and to investigate whether ALA-induced protoporphyrin IX might be a suitable photosensitizer in Barrett's oesophagus and adenocarcinoma, we determined the activities of porphobilinogen deaminase (PBG-D) and ferrochelatase (FC) in various malignant and premalignant as well as in normal tissues of the human oesophagus. A PDT power index for ALA-induced porphyrin accumulation, the ratio of PBG-D to FC normalized for the normal squamous epithelium of the oesophagus, was calculated to evaluate intertissue variation in the ability to accumulate porphyrins. In malignant and premalignant tissue a twofold increased PBG-D activity and a marginally increased FC activity was seen compared with normal squamous epithelium. A significantly increased PDT power index in Barrett's epithelium and adenocarcinoma was found. Our results suggest that, after the administration of ALA, porphyrins will accumulate in a greater amount in Barrett's epithelium and adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus because of an imbalance between PBG-D and FC activities. The PDT power index here defined might be a useful indicative parameter for predicting the susceptibility of these tissues to ALA-PDT.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 24 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $10.79 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hinnen, P., de Rooij, F., van Velthuysen, M. et al. Biochemical basis of 5-aminolaevulinic acid-induced protoporphyrin IX accumulation: a study in patients with (pre)malignant lesions of the oesophagus. Br J Cancer 78, 679–682 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1998.559
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1998.559
This article is cited by
-
Evaluation of Aminolevulinic Acid-Derived Tumor Fluorescence Yields Disparate Results in Murine and Spontaneous Large Animal Models of Lung Cancer
Scientific Reports (2019)
-
Intraoperative 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced photodynamic diagnosis of metastatic brain tumors with histopathological analysis
World Journal of Surgical Oncology (2017)
-
Usefulness of diagnostic laparoscopy with 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-mediated photodynamic diagnosis for the detection of peritoneal micrometastasis in advanced gastric cancer after chemotherapy
Surgery Today (2016)
-
Semi-Automated Volumetric and Morphological Assessment of Glioblastoma Resection with Fluorescence-Guided Surgery
Molecular Imaging and Biology (2016)
-
Fluorescence Detection of Malignant Liver Tumors using 5‐Aminolevulinic Acid‐Mediated Photodynamic Diagnosis: Principles, Technique, and Clinical Experience
World Journal of Surgery (2014)