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The work contrasts PDT’s ROS-driven direct tumor cell elimination with its capacity to stimulate host anticancer immunity, and explains IOT’s role in enhancing innate immune recognition and destruction of cancerous cells. It summarizes principles, benefits, and limitations, highlights photoimmunotherapy and nanophotoimmunotherapy preclinical evidence, and notes the need for clinical validation to confirm full efficacy.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/overcoming-resistant-cancerous-tumors-through-combined-photodynamic-and-immunotherapy-photoimmunotherapy/361960/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/overcoming-resistant-cancerous-tumors-through-combined-photodynamic-and-immunotherapy-photoimmunotherapy/361960.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Aria","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-27","2026-09-23",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is cancer resistance a major problem in treatment outcomes?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Cancer resistance limits the effectiveness of existing therapies and contributes to poor survival. 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It also supports strategies like targeted nanotechnology to overcome resistance and other therapeutic obstacles.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},361960,1790195340,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},2336464648322,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2200025388227c56fec?_k=1778556882303663488","TYPE Review  \nPUBLISHED 17 July 2025  \nDOI 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1633953  \nOPEN ACCESS  \nEDITED BY  \nCara Haymaker,  \nUniversity of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, United States  \nREVIEWED BY  \nZongde Zhang,  \nSouthwest Medical University, China Kolawole Olofinsan,  \nUniversity of the Free State, South Africa  \n*CORRESPONDENCE  \nHeidi Abrahamse  \n [habrahamse@uj.ac.za](habrahamse@uj.ac.za)  \nRECEIVED 23 May 2025  \nACCEPTED 30 June 2025  \nPUBLISHED 17 July 2025  \nCITATION  \nKah G and Abrahamse H (2025) Overcoming resistant cancerous tumors through combined photodynamic and immunotherapy (photoimmunotherapy) . Front. Immunol. 16:1633953 .  \ndoi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1633953  \nCOPYRIGHT  \n© 2025 Kah and Abrahamse. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.  \nOvercoming resistant cancerous tumors through combined photodynamic and immunotherapy (photoimmunotherapy)  \nGlory Kah and Heidi Abrahamse*  \nLaser Research Centre, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa  \nCancer is a major health problem as it causes significant mortality globally. In the last decades, conventional and recent therapeutic approaches have been used in oncology for cancer treatment. Despite this, the complete eradication of cancer is challenging, as the existing therapeutic strategies for cancer are typically faced with limitations. This is linked to cancer resistance to treatment, which arises because of the versatile nature of cancerous cells. Novel anticancer therapeutic procedures based on immune system activation, such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) and immunotherapy (IOT), are promising in treating resistant tumors. PDTis a minimally invasive treatment that induces cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production for direct elimination of cancerous cells, but can also trigger anticancer effects by activating the immune system of the host. IOT also has significant anticancer efficacy and has emerged as an advanced anticancer treatment that mainly enhances and stimulates the innate immune system of the body to identify and destroy cancerous cells. IOT can also instigate a longlasting anticancer response by harnessing the body’s immune system. PDT and IOT, when used alone, cannot tackle the issue of cancer resistance. This review elucidates the principles, benefits, and setbacks of PDT and IOT, along with the unique attributes that render them suitable for cancer combination therapy. It underscores the advancement of cancer PDT when utilized in combination with IOT (photoimmunotherapy), while also encapsulating the preclinical evidence regarding the efficacy of photoimmunotherapy, and its combination with nanotechnology (Nano-photoimmunotherapy) . The key findings indicate that photoimmunotherapy preclinical methods hold great promise in cancer treatment, as they can directly destroy cancer cells through PDT while also stimulating an increased anticancer immunity through co-delivery of IOT agents. Target-specific moieties can be used in nanotechnology-based anticancer photoimmunotherapy techniques to get past resistance and other therapeutic obstacles. However, clinical utilization of photoimmunotherapy procedures is greatly required to warrant the full efficacy.  \nKEYWORDS  \ncancer, resistant, photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, photoimmunotherapy, nano-photoimmunotherapy  \nFrontiers in Immunology 01 [frontiersin.org](frontiersin.org)  \n1 Introduction  \nCancer is a serious global health concern, as it is a great cause of mortality globally. It is accountable for about one in six deaths globally and with about 10 million deaths annually. Canc","cbCaifP6tLWiopvY","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifP6tLWiopvY","pdf",4877821,25,"English","# Introduction\n# Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and immune activation\n## Reactive oxygen species (ROS) mechanisms\n# Immunotherapy (IOT) for resistant tumors\n## Innate immune stimulation\n# Why combination therapy matters\n## Overcoming treatment resistance\n# Photoimmunotherapy and nanophotoimmunotherapy\n## Preclinical evidence and delivery strategies\n# Clinical translation and future directions","[{\"question\":\"Why is cancer resistance a major problem in treatment outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"Cancer resistance limits the effectiveness of existing therapies and contributes to poor survival. Resistant cancer cells can also show crossresistance, including multidrug resistance (MDR).\"},{\"question\":\"What roles do photodynamic therapy (PDT) and immunotherapy (IOT) play individually?\",\"answer\":\"PDT is a minimally invasive approach that induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) for direct elimination and can also trigger anticancer immune effects. IOT enhances and stimulates innate immunity to identify and destroy cancerous cells and may sustain long-lasting responses.\"},{\"question\":\"How does photoimmunotherapy improve on PDT or IOT alone for resistant tumors?\",\"answer\":\"Photoimmunotherapy combines PDT’s direct tumor-cell destruction with increased anticancer immunity through co-delivery of immunotherapy agents. It also supports strategies like targeted nanotechnology to overcome resistance and other therapeutic obstacles.\"}]","Overcoming resistant cancerous tumors through combined photodynamic and immunotherapy (photoimmunotherapy) | PDF",1790146133,63]