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Breast cancer treatment with a light-activated “smart bomb”
Scientists have developed new light-sensitive chemicals that could radically improve the treatment of aggressive cancers with minimal side effects. In experiments on mice, the new therapy completely destroyed metastatic breast cancer tumors.
The new chemicals, called cyanine-carborane salts, and their role in the next generation of cancer therapies are described in a new study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been used for decades to treat forms of skin and bladder cancer. It works by flooding the patient’s body with light-sensitive chemicals that accumulate in cancer cells. Light directed at the patient activates the chemicals and kills the diseased cells.
When exposed to light, the chemicals generate highly reactive oxygen molecules that look like tiny biochemical firecrackers that destroy cancer cells from the inside out, leaving healthy cells unharmed.
It is a fairly effective therapy, but it has several drawbacks that limit its use, including prolonged hypersensitivity to light, poor tissue penetration, and off-target toxicity. These drawbacks can prevent complete tumor destruction and lead to cancer recurrence.
Scientists from the University of California, Riverside and Michigan State University (MSU) have formed an interdisciplinary research team to find solutions.
“Cyanine-carborane salts minimize the problems of PDT by offering a safer and more precise way to completely destroy tumors while preserving healthy tissue,” states Professor Sophia Lunt, a cancer researcher at MSU and one of the principal investigators of the project.
According to the researchers, PDT chemicals approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration remain in the body for a long time. After treatment, patients are forced to stay in the dark for two to three months because even weak light causes burns and blisters.
In contrast, the researchers found that cyanine-carborane salts are flushed out of the body more quickly, remaining only in cancer cells that require treatment.
What is most interesting is the ability of the created substance to get exactly where it is needed and stay there while the residue of the substance is flushed out of the body. In this way, only cancer cells can be killed, but no harm can be done to the patient.
Unlike conventional PDT drugs, salts take advantage of the natural vulnerability of cancer cells. They are taken up by proteins called OATP that are overexpressed in tumors. This allows for precise targeting without the use of expensive additional chemicals currently used in PDT to target cancer cells.
Traditional PDT is also limited in its ability to treat deeply located tumors because it works with a wavelength of light that penetrates only a few millimeters into the body. Upon entering cancer cells, cyanine-carborane salts can be activated by near-infrared light, which is able to penetrate deeper into the tissue. This could expand the range of cancers that can be treated.
Following the successful result, the scientists intend to continue the research and try to expand the range of cancer treatments that the salts can be used with. It may be possible to modify the salts so that they can be used with energy sources other than light that penetrate even deeper into the body.
The researchers’ work opens the door to targeted, safe and cost-effective treatments for aggressive breast cancer that have limited options. It also opens the door to new advances in the field.
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