Curcumin derivatives as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy: photophysical properties and in vitro studies with prostate cancer cells.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive approach to treat various forms of cancer, based on the ability of certain non-toxic molecules (photosensitizers) to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) after excitation by light of a certain wavelength and eventually induce strong phototoxic reactions against malignant cells and other pathogens. Curcumin is one of the most extensively investigated phytochemicals with a wide range of therapeutic properties and has been shown to induce strong photocytotoxic effects in micromolar concentrations against a variety of cancer cell lines. Curcumin (1) is comparatively evaluated with the naturally occurring bisdemethoxy Curcumin (2), which lacks the two methoxy groups, as well as two newly synthesized curcuminoids, the cinnamaldehyde derivative (3) and the dimethylamino one (4), designed to increase the absorption maximum and hence the tissue penetration. The synthetic curcuminoids were successfully synthesized in sufficient amounts and their photophysical properties such as absorption, fluorescence, photobleaching and free radical generation were investigated. Compound 4 exhibited a significant increase in peak absorption (497 nm) and strong fluorescent emission signals were recorded for all curcuminoids. Photobleaching of 4 was comparable to 1 whereas 2 and 3 showed more extended photobleaching but much higher ROS production in very short irradiation times. Compounds 2 and 4 exhibited specific intracellular localization. After dark and light cytotoxicity experiments against LNCaP prostate cancer cell line for all curcuminoids, concentration of 3 µM and irradiance of 6 mW cm-2 were selected for the PDT application which resulted in remarkable results with very short LD50. Curcuminoids 2 and 4 exhibited a significant dose-dependent PDT effect. The biphasic dose-response photodynamic effect observed for 1 and 3 may provide a strategy against prolonged and sustained photosensitivity.

Morphometric characteristics of red blood cells as diagnostic factors for coronary artery disease.

Digital imaging microscopy plays an important role in computer aided cytological and histological diagnosis. In this study, digital imaging microscopy was used to measure Red Blood Cells (RBCs) morphometric characteristics such as area, perimeter, major and minor axis length, elongation, compactness and roughness in both groups: healthy individuals and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) patients. All the measured characteristics, except elongation, showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups. In particular, patients with CAD presented greater values than healthy ones. Finally multivariate analysis was used in order to take into account the whole measured profile of each patient. Compactness, perimeter and elongation improved the diagnostic ability, whereas all the others did not show any significant improvement. These three characteristics correctly classify the 84.5% of the patients. In conclusion, RBCs morphometric characteristics could be considered as diagnostic factors for CAD.

Findings of computerized nuclear morphometry of papillary thyroid carcinoma in correlation with the age of the patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of nuclear morphometry in the pathology of papillary thyroid carcinoma by computer-aided image analysis and the statistical comparison of nuclear morphometric parameters with the age of patients. Seventy cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma diagnosed by fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies were classified into two groups according to the patients' age (group I: <45 years and group II: >45 years). The following six nuclear morphometric parameters were measured in a large number of randomly selected nuclei of each case: area, perimeter, major axis length, elongation, roundness, and compactness. The statistical analysis was performed by using special algorithms, and the results of the two groups were compared for each of the parameters measured using the t-test. Area, perimeter, and major axis length of papillary thyroid carcinoma nuclei demonstrate a statistically significant correlation with the age of patients, whereas elongation, roundness, and compactness did not show any correlation. Nuclear morphometry in association with the follow-up of patients could be suggested as an important prognostic index for papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Findings of computerised nuclear morphometry of papillary thyroid carcinoma in correlation with known prognostic factors.

The aim of this study was the evaluation of the usefulness of nuclear morphometry in the pathology of papillary thyroid carcinoma by computer-aided image analysis and the statistical comparison of nuclear morphometric parameters with age of patients, tumor size and the presence or not of thyroid capsule invasion. Thirty three cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma were classified in two groups according to patients' age (group I: < 45 years and group II: > 45 years), according to tumor's size (group I: < 2.5 cm, group II: > 2.5 cm) and to the presence or not of thyroid capsule invasion (group I: invasion (+), group II: no invasion (-)). The following six nuclear morphometric parameters were measured in a large number of randomly selected nuclei of each case: area, perimeter, major axis length, minor axis length, elongation and roundness. The statistical analysis was performed using special algorithms and the results of the two groups of each prognostic factor examined, were compared for each of the measured parameter using the t-test. When the classification was associated with age it was shown that younger people (group I) have lower area, perimeter, major axis length, elongation and roundness means of papillary thyroid carcinoma nuclei than older ones (group II) whereas minor axis length did not show any difference between the two groups. When the classification was associated with tumor size it was shown that younger people (group I) have lower area, perimeter, major axis length means of papillary thyroid carcinoma nuclei than older ones (group II) whereas minor axis length, elongation and roundness did not show any difference between the two groups. Finally, when the cases were classified according to the presence or not of the capsule invasion it was shown that younger people (group I) have lower area, perimeter, major axis length means of papillary thyroid carcinoma nuclei than older ones (group II) whereas roundness did not showed any difference between the two groups. On the other hand younger people (group I) have higher elongation and roundness means than the older ones (group II). Nuclear morphometry in association with the patients' follow-up could represent an important prognostic index for papillary thyroid carcinoma.