Light therapy offers new hope for non-invasive cancer treatment
Last updated 11/9/2011 10:31:53 AM
Light therapy offers new hope for non-invasive cancer treatment
American researchers have designed a light-based therapy that allows the selective destruction of tumour cells without harming surrounding normal tissue.
This method of cancer therapy could theoretically work against tumors in humans, such as those of the breast, lung, prostate, as well as cancer cells in the blood such as leukemias.
The researchers from the National Cancer Institute in the United States set out to develop a light therapy that could more accurately target cancer cells while sparing a greater number of normal cells.
This new type of treatment, called photoimmunotherapy, or PIT, uses light to rapidly and selectively kill cancer cells. To create their PIT, the scientists coupled a monoclonal antibody or MAb, which recognises specific proteins on the surface of cancer cells, with a photosensitizer — a molecule that, when exposed to light of the appropriate wavelength (near-infrared), rapidly damages cells.
Hisataka Kobayashi, chief scientist in the Molecular Imaging Program at NCI's Center for Cancer Research said: "Although more testing will be needed, we believe this PIT method has the potential to replace some surgical, radiation, and chemotherapy treatments."