Abstract
Breast and cervical cancers are dangerous threats with regard to the health of women. The two malignancies have
reached the highest record in terms of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. Despite the use of novel
strategies with the aim to treat and cure advanced stages of cancer, post-therapeutic relapse believed to be caused by
cancer stem cells is one of the challenges encountered during tumor therapy. Therefore, further attention should be
paid to cancer stem cells when developing novel anti-tumor therapeutic approaches. Low-intensity laser irradiation is a
form of phototherapy making use of visible light in the wavelength range of 630–905 nm. Low-intensity laser irradiation
has shown remarkable results in a wide range of medical applications due to its biphasic dose and wavelength effect at a
cellular level. Overall, this article focuses on the cellular responses of healthy and cancer cells after treatment with lowintensity
laser irradiation alone or in combination with a photosensitizer as photodynamic therapy and the influence that
various wavelengths and fluencies could have on the therapeutic outcome. Attention will be paid to the biomodulative
effect of low-intensity laser irradiation on cancer stem cells.