Research progress of potential factors influencing photodynamic therapy for gastrointestinal cancer

•This paper describes seven ways of cell death caused by PDT. Including Necrosis, Apoptosis, Autophagy, Mitotic catastrophe, Necroptosis, Pyroptosis and Ferroptosis.•This article describes the use of PDT in Gastrointestinal cancers, including esophageal cancer， gastric cancer， bile duct cancer， ampullary cancer， colon cancer and rectal cancer.•This paper discussed potential influencing factors of PDT, such as tumor acidic microenvironment, tumor hypoxic microenvironment, multi-drug resistance, different tumor characteristics and the immune status of patients.•The article summarized how to improve the curative effect of PDT and also provided a reference for clinical application and scientific research of PDT in gastrointestinal cancers.