Scientists may now be able to make cancer-fighting drugs that can target tumors far more effectively by using ultra-violet light to activate them. Professor Colin Self and Dr Stephen Thompson from Newcastle University have developed a procedure, which activates antibodies using ultra violet light and targets a tumor in a specific area of the body.
Therapeutic antibodies have long been recognized as having excellent potential in treating cancer but getting them to efficiently target tumor cells has proved to be very difficult. The new study has devised a method, whereby the antibodies are cloaked with a light-sensitive organic oil which stops them from working until they come into contact with light. UV light is then shone at the site of the tumour, and the antibodies kick into action.
Clinical trials on humans are to begin next year, should funding be secured, although these will be on secondary skin cancers and not internal tumors.
Unlike chemotherapy, this non-invasive treatment does not attack healthy cells so there are little side effects and it is hoped that it could be used alongside conventional treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and in the future as the sole therapy for treating cancer.
This development is being hailed as a breakthrough in the battle against the disease which is the most widespread killer worldwide. While the process has been tested only on mice, it works so well that the scientists are looking to begin clinical trials on patients with secondary skin cancers early next year.
Via: Yahoo
Image credit: BU
