A new cancer treatment that uses LED light and microscopic flakes of tin may offer patients a safer, less painful alternative to chemotherapy and surgery.
The approach, developed through a collaboration between The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Porto in Portugal, shows promise in killing cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.
Traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation often come with severe side effects because they damage healthy cells as well as cancerous ones.
Photothermal therapy—an experimental method that uses light to heat up and destroy cancer cells—has been viewed as a potential alternative.
However, the technique has faced hurdles, including high costs, the need for powerful lasers, and the risk of harming nearby healthy cells.
The new research, published in ACS Nano, could overcome those barriers.
Instead of lasers, the team used LED lights, which are cheaper, safer, and more widely available.
They paired this light with specially designed materials known as SnOx nanoflakes, tiny fragments of tin oxide that naturally seek out and target cancer cells.
“Our goal was to create a treatment that is not only effective but also safe and accessible,” said Jean Anne Incorvia, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UT Austin and co-leader of the project.
“With the combination of LED light and SnOx nanoflakes, we’ve developed a method to precisely target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched.”
The results are striking. In tests on human cells, the treatment killed up to 92 percent of skin cancer cells and 50 percent of colorectal cancer cells within just 30 minutes of LED exposure.
Just as importantly, it showed no harmful effects on healthy skin cells, proving its ability to distinguish between healthy and diseased tissue.
Cancer remains the second leading cause of death worldwide, and researchers are constantly searching for more effective, less damaging treatments.
By replacing costly lasers with LEDs and using inexpensive, safe nanomaterials, the UT-Portugal team’s approach could make light-based therapies far more accessible.
The researchers now plan to study the precise mechanisms behind how light and heat interact with the nanoflakes, as well as to test other possible materials that might improve the treatment’s effectiveness.
They are also working on developing devices that could deliver this therapy directly to patients.
For skin cancer patients, the potential is especially exciting. “We envision that one day, treatment could move from the hospital to the patient’s home,” said Artur Pinto, lead researcher from the University of Porto.
“A portable device could be placed on the skin after surgery to irradiate and destroy any remaining cancer cells, reducing the risk of recurrence.”
If successful, this technology could mark a new era in cancer treatment: safer, more affordable, and more widely available to patients around the world.
