BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//CERN//INDICO//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Plant based photosensitizers: An in vitro study against cancer cel
 ls
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260325T082000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260325T084000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260427T052858Z
UID:indico-contribution-10311@events.saip.org.za
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Nosipho Fakudze (University of Johannesburg)\nBreast
  cancer remains a major global public health concern due to its continuous
 ly rising incidence rate across a variety of demographics. An estimated 2.
 3 million new cases have made breast cancer higher in incidence rate than 
 the commonly reported lung cancer. Furthermore\, women in developing count
 ries have higher mortality rates\, 15.3 compared to 11.3 per 100 000 but a
  much lower incidence rate (30.8 compared to 54.1 per 100\,000) associated
  with women in developed countries. The 5-year breast cancer survival rate
  in Sub-Saharan Africa is recorded at 40%. Research on cancer treatments h
 as shifted to natural products due to the numerous negative effects of con
 ventional breast cancer treatments\, such as chemotherapy\, hormone recept
 or therapy\, and surgery. Throughout history\, traditional medicine has su
 ccessfully treated a variety of illnesses with natural ingredients. The va
 riety of plants and their advantages\, main and secondary phytocompounds\,
  make them a cost-effective cancer treatment option with few adverse effec
 ts. Molecular oxygen\, photosensitizer (PS)\, and light are the three comp
 onents of photodynamic therapy (PDT)\, an alternative cancer therapy. Pheo
 phorbide-a and hypericin\, two naturally derived PS\, were utilized to stu
 dy the medicinal effects against breast cancer cells. Hypericin is extract
 ed from Hypericum perforatum\, while pheophorbide-a is a chlorophyll deriv
 ative. This study utilized cell viability assay\, flow cytometry\, and mor
 phological analysis to evaluate the efficacy of these PSs. MTT (3-[4\,5-di
 methylthiazol-2-yl]-2\,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay showed signif
 icant cell death at 0.37 µM for pheophorbide-a and 0.07 µM for hypericin
 \, while morphological analysis showed altered cellular morphology\, also 
 confirmed by initiation of apoptosis. Our study shows a promising cost-eff
 ective treatment modality for breast cancer due to the fact that it is pla
 nt derived.\n\nhttps://events.saip.org.za/event/272/contributions/10311/
LOCATION:
URL:https://events.saip.org.za/event/272/contributions/10311/
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR