Scientists have successfully developed a revolutionary cancer treatment that illuminates and destroys microscopic cancer cells, a breakthrough that can allow surgeons to more effectively target and destroy disease in patients.
A European team of engineers, physicists, neurosurgeons, biologists and immunologists from the United Kingdom, Poland and Sweden have joined forces to design a new form of photoimmunotherapy.
Experts believe it is destined to become the fifth major cancer treatment in the world after surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy.
Light-activated therapy forces cancer cells to glow in the dark, helping surgeons remove more tumors than existing techniques – and then killing the remaining cells within minutes of surgery. In the world’s first study in mice with glioblastoma, one of the most common and aggressive types of brain cancer, the scan reveals that the new treatment has illuminated even the smallest cancer cells to help surgeons remove them – and then destroyed the rest.
Trials of the new form of photoimmunotherapy conducted by the Institute for Cancer Research, London, have also shown that treatment has triggered an immune response that can prepare the immune system to target cancer cells in the future, suggesting it may prevent relapse. on glioblastoma after surgery. Researchers are also now studying a new treatment for childhood neuroblastoma.
“Brain cancer such as glioblastoma can be difficult to treat and, unfortunately, there are too few treatment options for patients,” study leader Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek told the Guardian. “Surgery is a challenge because of the location of the tumors, so new ways to remove tumor cells during surgery and treat residual cancer cells that remain after that can be very helpful.
The head of the ICR team on preclinical molecular imaging added: “Our study shows that a new photoimmunotherapy treatment using a combination of fluorescent marker, affinity protein and near-infrared light can both identify and treat residual glioblastoma cells in mice. In the future, we hope that this approach can be used to treat human glioblastoma and potentially other cancers.
The therapy combines a special fluorescent dye with a compound aimed at cancer. Experiments with mice have shown that the combination dramatically improves the visibility of cancer cells during surgery and, when later activated by near infrared light, triggers an antitumor effect.
Researchers from ICR, Imperial College London, the Medical University of Silesia, Poland, and the Swedish company AffibodyAB believe the new treatment could help surgeons more easily and effectively remove particularly challenging tumors, such as those in the head and neck.
The joint effort was largely funded by the Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Center at ICR and Imperial College London, a partnership that brings together international scientists from engineering, physics and science to find innovative ways to tackle cancer.
“Multidisciplinary work is crucial in finding innovative solutions to the challenges we face in cancer research, diagnosis and treatment – and this study is a great example,” said Prof. Axel Behrens, Head of Cancer Stem. cells in ICR and research. Director of the UK Cancer Research Center for Cancer Research.
“This study demonstrates a new approach to identifying and treating glioblastoma cells in the brain, using light to turn an immunosuppressive environment into an immune-vulnerable one, and which has exciting potential as a therapy for this aggressive type of brain tumor.
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After decades of advances in cancer treatment, the four main forms available today – surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy – mean that more people diagnosed with the disease can be treated effectively and a large number can live healthy lives. many years.
However, the close proximity of some tumors to vital organs in the body means that it is vital to develop new ways to treat cancer so that doctors can overcome the risk of damaging healthy parts of the body. Experts believe that photoimmunotherapy may be the answer.
When tumors grow in sensitive areas of the brain, such as the motor cortex, which is involved in planning and controlling voluntary movements, glioblastoma surgery can leave behind tumor cells that can be very difficult to treat – and that means the disease may return more aggressively later.
The new treatment uses synthetic molecules called afitela. These are small proteins designed in the laboratory to bind to a specific target with high precision, in this case a protein called EGFR – which has mutated in many cases of glioblastoma.
The affiliates are then combined with a fluorescent molecule called IR700 and administered to mice before surgery. The bright light on the joints made the paint glow, highlighting microscopic areas of brain tumors that surgeons could remove. The laser then switched to near-infrared light, which triggered antitumor activity, killing the remaining cells after surgery.
“Photoimmunotherapies can help us target cancer cells that cannot be removed during surgery, which can help people live longer after treatment,” said Dr. Charles Evans, research manager. information at Cancer Research UK. He warned that there were still technical challenges to overcome, such as reaching all parts of the tumor with near-infrared light, but added that he was “excited to see how this study will develop”.
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