A revolutionary new method that lights up and kills cancer cells

Experts now believe photodynamic therapy, or light therapy, which targets and kills cancer cells, could be the fifth major form of cancer treatment.

The researchers have developed a new type of cancer that illuminates and controls microscopic cancer cells. The new method can enable surgeons to target and eliminate cancer Watchman.

European team cooperate

A team of neurosurgeons, biologists and immunologists from Poland, the UK and Sweden collaborated to design this new form of photoimmunotherapy and experts believe this is the fifth major type of cancer treatment, following surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy.

Researchers from Medical University of Silesia in Poland, Institute of Cancer Research in London, ICR at Imperial College London in the UK, and Swedish biotechnology company Affibody AB believe the new treatment could help surgeons more effectively remove severe tumors such as head and neck tumors. .

fluorescent material

Light-activated therapy causes cancer cells to glow in the dark so that surgeons can remove more tumors and then kill the remaining cancer cells. In an experiment on mice with the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma, scans showed that the new treatment lit up even the tiniest cancer cells so that surgeons could remove them.

The treatment combines a fluorescent dye with a carcinogen, and in experiments with mice, the combination was found to significantly improve doctors’ ability to see cancer cells during surgery, when the combination was also activated after surgery by near-infrared light. Tumor effect.

More cancers

Trials with photoimmunotherapy, led by ICR, showed that the treatment also triggered an immune response that could prepare the immune system to target cancer cells in the future, suggesting that it could prevent cancer from returning after surgery.

The study shows that the method can determine and treat the remaining aromatic tumor cells in the mice. In the future, researchers hope that this approach can be used to treat glioblastoma in humans and possibly other types of cancer and n.Researchers are studying the new method of neuromuscular cell tumor in children.

“Brain cancers such as glioblastoma can be difficult to treat, and unfortunately there are very few treatment options for patients. Surgery is a challenge due to the location of the tumors, so new ways to see the cancer cells to be removed during surgery and treat the remaining cancer cells afterward can be very helpful.‘ says the study leader Gabriella Kramer Maricon me ICR . website.

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