For more than two decades, researchers have tried to develop a light-activated cancer therapy that could replace standard chemotherapy, which can be effective but causes serious negative side effects. Now scientists at the National Cancer Institute have developed a possible solution that involves pairing cancer-specific antibodies with a heat-sensitive fluorescent dye. The dye is nontoxic on its own, but when it comes into contact with near-infrared light, it heats up and essentially burns a small hole in the cell membrane it has attached to, killing the cell. The dye used in the study offers another bonus because it lights up, which allows clinicians to track the treatment's progress with fluorescence imaging. In the mice, the fluorescence visibly declined in tumor cells a day after administration of the near-infrared light.
Rick S.
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