Scientists have developed a revolutionary light-activated cancer treatment that can identify and destroy microscopic tumour cells within 30 minutes, in a world-first breakthrough that experts believe could become the fifth major cancer therapy.
The new form of photoimmunotherapy, developed by a European team including researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, Imperial College London and the Medical University of Silesia in Poland, combines a fluorescent dye with a cancer-targeting compound. In trials on mice with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, the treatment caused cancer cells to glow in the dark, helping surgeons remove more of the tumour, and then killed remaining cells when activated by near-infrared light.
Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek, preclinical molecular imaging team leader at the ICR, said: 'Brain cancers like glioblastoma can be hard to treat and, sadly, there are too few treatment options for patients. Surgery is challenging due to the location of the tumours, and so new ways to see tumour cells to be removed during surgery, and to treat residual cancer cells that remain afterwards, could be of great benefit.'
The therapy also triggered an immune response that could prime the immune system to target cancer cells in future, suggesting it might prevent glioblastoma from returning after surgery. The study, funded by the Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre, is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Experts believe photoimmunotherapy could eventually become the fifth major cancer treatment after surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. However, the treatment has so far only been tested in mice, and further research is needed before it can be trialled in humans.
