A breakthrough that could enable surgeons to more effectively target and destroy the disease in patients has been developed by scientists.
A European team of engineers, physicists, neurosurgeons, biologists and immunologists from the UK, Poland and Sweden collaborated to design a new form of photoimmunotherapy.
It is expected to become the world's fifth major cancer treatment after surgery.
Light-activated therapy causes cancer cells to glow in the dark, helping surgeons remove more of the tumours compared with existing techniques, and then kills off remaining cells within minutes once the surgery is complete. In a world-first trial in mice with the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer, scans showed the treatment lit up even the smallest cancer cells to help surgeons remove them.
The Institute of Cancer Research, London, led the trials of the new form of photoimmunotherapy that showed it could cause an immune response to target cancer cells. The new treatment for cancer in children is being studied by researchers.
There are too few treatment options for patients with brain cancer and it can be hard to treat it. Due to the location of the tumours, surgery is challenging, and so new ways to see tumour cells to be removed during surgery, and to treat residual cancer cells that remain afterwards, could be of benefit.
A novel photoimmunotherapy treatment using a combination of a fluorescent marker, affibody proteins and near-infrared light can both identify and treat leftover glioblastoma cells in mice. We hope this approach can be used to treat other cancer types as well.
A cancer-targeting compound is combined with a fluorescent dye. The combination was shown to dramatically improve the visibility of cancer cells during surgery and to cause an anti-tumour effect when activated by near-infrared light.
Scientists from the ICR, Imperial College London, the Medical University of Silesia, Poland, and the Swedish company AffibodyAB believe the novel treatment could help surgeons more easily and effectively remove challenging tumors such as those in the head and neck.
The Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre is a partnership that brings together international scientists from engineering, physical and life sciences to find innovative ways to tackle cancer.
The leader of the cancer stem cell team at the ICR and scientific director of the Cancer Research UK Convergence said that the study is a great example of multi-disciplinary working.
This research demonstrates a novel approach to identify and treat brain tumors using light, which has exciting potential as a therapy against aggressive brain tumors.
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More people who are diagnosed with cancer can be treated effectively and large numbers can live a long life thanks to the four main forms of cancer treatment.
The close proximity of some tumours to vital organs in the body means it is vital new ways to treat cancer are developed so doctors don't harm healthy parts of the body. Photoimmunotherapy is believed to be the answer.
When tumours grow in the motor cortex, which is involved in the planning and control of voluntary movements, surgery can leave behind tumours that can be very hard to treat, meaning the disease can come back more aggressively later.
A synthetic molecule called affibodies is used in the treatment. This is a small molecule that is engineered in the lab to bind with a specific target with high precision.
The affibodies were combined with a fluorescent molecule and given to the mice before surgery. The dye glowed due to the light shining on the compounds. The anti-tumour activity was triggered when the laser switched to near-IR.
According to Dr Charles Evans, the research information manager at Cancer Research UK, photoimmunotherapies could help us to target the cancer cells that can't be removed during surgery. He said that he was excited to see how this research will develop, but cautioned that there were still technical challenges to overcome.
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