An In Vitro Analysis of the Efficacy of Photodynamic Therapy using 5-Aminolevulinic Acid in Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Medical student, Rebecca Maggs, was awarded 1st prize for the Joint OBB Fund 2023, winning £1,500 worth of seed funding for research into sarcoma treatment. The OBB Fund aims to encourage medical students and foundation year doctors to become future leaders in MSK research by delivering seed funding for short clinical or laboratory research projects hosted by universities, hospitals or hospital trusts.

Which aspect of MSK health are you addressing?

The planned research will address sarcoma treatment. Sarcoma encompasses a diverse range of malignancies, primarily arising from mesenchymal cells of connective tissues. Most commonly, both bone and soft tissue sarcomas are treated via resections of varying degrees. A significant factor in sarcoma prognosis is surgical resection margins. Positive margins have been recognised to contribute towards significantly increased risk of local recurrence and mortality, therefore, as the cornerstone of sarcoma treatment, surgical resections must be optimised to improve patient outcomes.

How does your research aim to address this area?

This research will explore the potential use of intraoperative photodynamic therapy (PDT) for sarcoma treatment, enabling clearance of remaining positive margins. Successful PDT has 3 fundamental facets; a photosensitizer, oxygen and an excitation light source.  The correct combination of these three units results in a dynamic interaction, induction of reactive oxygen species and subsequent cell death via a range of mechanisms. This in vitro project will investigate cellular uptake of the photosensitizer 5-aminolevulinic acid, production of reactive oxygen species and cell viability following PDT in several sarcoma cell lines. This has the translational objective of integrating PDT intraoperatively during resections, applying light directly to the sarcoma wound bed of a patient who has had a photosensitizer delivered, leading to death of any potentially remaining tumour cells and clearing remaining positive margins.

How will funding you receive support you in your research?

The ORUK funding will support in securing crucial resources, enabling the completion of a thorough research project. Funding will contribute towards the specialised light source required, cell viability assays and charged equipment time, all significant in generating data essential to establishing the efficacy of PDT for sarcoma treatment. Overall, the support provided has allowed advancement of study goals and will lead to production of meaningful research for orthopaedic oncology.