Researchers have developed light-sensitive chemicals that can eliminate tumors in vivo in mouse models of breast cancer with minimal side effects. The findings were published in Angewandte Chemie, a journal of the German Chemical Society.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been used for decades to treat various skin and bladder cancers. It works by flooding patients’ bodies with light-sensitive chemicals that build up in cancer cells. These chemicals are activated by exposure to light, which enables them to kill cancer cells. While a promising method, challenges including poor chemical stability, nonspecific binding, and off-target toxicity have limited the medical applications for the therapy.
In the current study, researchers developed cyanine-carborane salts to replace conventional PDT agents. Following positive results in vitro with both mouse and human cell lines, the researchers tested the agents in a mouse model of breast cancer, ultimately eliminating tumors with minimal side effects.
Unlike conventional PDT agents, which remain in the body for extended periods of time and require patients to stay in the dark for two to three months to avoid blisters and burns, the researchers found that cyanine-carborane salts flush out of the body relatively quickly and only remain in cancer cells that require treatment.
“The most interesting thing is the targeting ability of this substance we made to go right where it’s needed and stay there while the rest passes through. That way you’ll only kill the cells right where the cancer is but not harm the patient,” said co-principal investigator, Vincent Lavallo, chemistry professor at the University of California, Riverside, in a press release.
“Our work offers a targeted, safe, and cost-effective treatment for aggressive breast cancers with limited treatment options. It also opens the door to breakthroughs in other approaches for cancer therapy and targeted drug delivery,” said first author of the study, Amir Roshanzadeh, a cell and molecular biology graduate student at Michigan State University, in a press release.
Sources: EurekAlert, Angewandte Chemie