Progress of Phototherapy Applications in the Treatment of Bone Cancer.

Bone cancer including primary bone cancer and metastatic bone cancer, remains a challenge claiming millions of lives and affecting the life quality of survivors. Conventional treatments of bone cancer include wide surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, some bone cancer cells may remain or recur in the local area after resection, some are highly resistant to chemotherapy, and some are insensitive to radiotherapy. Phototherapy (PT) including photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), is a clinically approved, minimally invasive, and highly selective treatment, and has been widely reported for cancer therapy. Under the irradiation of light of a specific wavelength, the photosensitizer (PS) in PDT can cause the increase of intracellular ROS and the photothermal agent (PTA) in PTT can induce photothermal conversion, leading to the tumoricidal effects. In this review, the progress of PT applications in the treatment of bone cancer has been outlined and summarized, and some envisioned challenges and future perspectives have been mentioned. This review provides the current state of the art regarding PDT and PTT in bone cancer and inspiration for future studies on PT.

Intramuscular Injection of Combined Calf Blood Compound (CFC) and Homeopathic Drug Tr14 Accelerates Muscle Regeneration In Vivo.

Skeletal muscle injuries in competitive sports cause lengthy absences of athletes from tournaments. This is of tremendous competitive and economic relevance for both the athletes and their respective clubs. Therapy for structural muscle lesions aims to promote regeneration and fast-track return-to-play. A common clinical treatment strategy for muscle injuries is the intramuscular injection of calf blood compound and the homeopathic drug, Tr14. Although the combination of these two agents was reported to reduce recovery time, the regulatory mechanism whereby this occurs remains unknown. In this in vivo study, we selected a rat model of mechanical muscle injury to investigate the effect of this combination therapy on muscle regeneration. Gene expression analysis and histological images revealed that this combined intramuscular injection for muscle lesions can enhance the expression of pro-myogenic genes and proteins and accelerate muscle regeneration. These findings are novel and depict the positive effects of calf blood compound and the homeopathic drug, Tr14, which are utilized in the field of Sports medicine.

Calf Blood Compound (CFC) and Homeopathic Drug Induce Differentiation of Primary Human Skeletal Muscle Cells.

The use of injections to treat structural muscle injuries is controversially discussed. In our controlled in vitro study, we investigated the biological impact of Actovegin and Traumeel alone and in combination on primary human skeletal muscle cells. Cells were characterized by immunofluorescence staining for myogenic factor 5 (Myf5) and MyoD, and cultured with or without Actovegin and / or Traumeel. The effects of these agents were assayed by cell viability and gene expression of the specific markers MyoD, Myf5, neural adhesion molecule (NCAM), and CD31. Myotube formation was determined by myosin staining. Neither Actovegin nor Traumeel showed toxic effects or influenced cell viability significantly. High volumes of Actovegin down-regulated gene expression of NCAM after 3 days but had no effect on MyoD, Myf5, and CD31 gene expression. High volumes of Traumeel inhibited MyoD gene expression after 3 days, whereas after 7 days MyoD expression was significantly up-regulated. The combination of both agents did not significantly influence cell viability or gene expression. This is the first study demonstrating that Actovegin and Traumeel potentially modulate human skeletal muscle cells. The relevance of these in vitro findings has to be highlighted in further in vivo studies.