The next generation of cancer drugs could be based on LED lights. Scientists from the University of East Anglia (Australia) present in “Nature Chemical Biology” a new generation of light-activated cancer treatments.
The treatment would work by turning on embedded LED lights near a tumor, which would then activate biotherapeutic drugs. These new treatments would be highly specific and more effective than next-generation cancer immunotherapies, the researchers write.
The research details how this team has engineered antibody fragments, which not only ‘fuse’ with their target, but are also activated by light.
«Current cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, kill cancer cells, but they can also harm healthy cells in your body., such as blood and skin cells, says Amit Sachdeva, “author of the study. “This means they can cause side effects, such as hair loss, feeling tired and unwell, and also put patients at higher risk of infections.”
Now, the UEA team has engineered one of the first antibody fragments that binds to, and forms a covalent bond with, its target, upon irradiation with ultraviolet light of a specific wavelength.
“A covalent bond is like melting two pieces of plastic and fusing them together. It means that the molecules of a drug could, for example, be permanently attached to a tumor.
New class of biotherapeutics
The scientists hope that their work will lead to the development of a new class of biotherapeutic highly specific light sensitive “This would mean that antibodies could be activated at the site of a tumor and covalently adhere to their target upon light activation.”
In other words, he explains, “it could activate antibodies to attack tumor cells through light, either directly on the skin, in the case skin canceror using tiny LED lights that could be implanted at the site of a tumor inside the body,” which would allow cancer treatment to be more efficient and targeted because only molecules in the vicinity of the tumor would be activated and would not affect other cells. .
For now, the therapy would work for cancers such as skin cancer, or where there is a solid tumor, but not for blood cancers such as leukemia.
If the researchers are successful in the next stages of their work, they hope to see light-activated immunotherapies being used to treat cancer patients within five to 10 years.