A European team of engineers, physicists, neurosurgeons, biologists and immunologists from the UK, Poland and Sweden has developed a new form of photoimmunotherapy (light therapy) with which cancer tumors can be targeted and destroyed with impressive efficiency.
The new therapy is presented as the fifth major treatment for cancer worldwide, after surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy.
The concept behind this method is quite simple. Light therapy makes cancer cells glow in the dark, helping surgeons accurately identify tumors and get rid of them effectively.
The researchers undertook the world’s first study of glioblastoma mice, the result being more than gratifying.
According to the findings, with the help of the new treatment, even the smallest cancer cells were illuminated. In addition, all residual cells left over from surgery were annihilated.
Moreover, the treatment triggered an immune response, which could protect the body from the return of the disease.
“Brain cancers like glioblastoma can be difficult to treat, and unfortunately there are too few treatment options for patients,” study author Gabriela Kramer-Marek told The Guardian.
“Surgery is a challenge because of the location of the tumors, and therefore new ways of seeing tumor cells to be removed during surgery and treating residual cancer cells that remain afterwards could be of great benefit,” he said. said Kramer-Marek.
“Our study shows that a new treatment with photoimmunotherapy, which uses a combination of fluorescent marker, aficorp protein and infrared light, can identify and treat the remaining glioblastoma cells in mice,” she added.
“In the future, I hope this approach can be used to treat human glioblastoma and possibly other cancers,” the scientist said.
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