Light-based anticancer therapy shows promise
NOV 07, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.025690
BBC : Current cancer treatments involve radiation, surgery, or drugs that kill the cancerous cells. All three have side effects that can damage healthy tissue. Makoto Mitsunaga and colleagues at Maryland’s National Cancer Institute have demonstrated a more precisely targeted therapy. They created a photosensitizer specific to cancer cells by combining an antibody that targets proteins on the surface of cancerous cells with a chemical, IR700, that is activated when hit by near-IR light. They then implanted squamous cell carcinoma tumors into the backs of mice, gave the mice the antibody-IR700 combo, and exposed them to near-IR light. Near-IR can penetrate several centimeters into the skin; it activated the drug, and tumor volume in the mice was significantly reduced, with no observable toxic effects.
© 2011 American Institute of Physics
