Chemotherapy is a common treatment for cancer. It works, but it often makes patients feel sick.
They can feel nauseous, lose their hair, and experience painful sensations.
But there may be a better way, says Liyan Zhang, a biochemist.
She and a team of biologists from Leiden have been experimenting with a new drug that only works when it’s exposed to light. Zhang will talk about her work on July 4th.
The Problem with Current Chemotherapy
When you get chemotherapy, the doctor injects drugs into your body. These drugs contain toxic molecules that are sometimes made from metal, like platinum.
These toxic molecules are great at killing cancer cells. But they can also kill healthy cells, which can make you feel sick.
“The drug doesn’t just affect the cancer, it can also harm healthy tissues and that often leads to serious side effects,” explains Zhang.
A New Way to Fight Cancer
Zhang and her team have been working on a new kind of chemotherapy. This new treatment only works when it’s exposed to light.
The molecules in this drug contain a metal called ruthenium, which makes them sensitive to light. If this treatment is safe, it could be a better alternative to current chemotherapies.
Zhang explains, “You give the patient the drug, and then you wait for it to get to the tumor. Then you shine a light on the tumor using a laser.
This is easier if the tumor is near the surface of the body, like in the skin, lungs, or bladder. But with the right technology, we can also get the light to tumors that are deeper in the body, like in the brain or liver.”
Only Toxic When Exposed to Light
Zhang has found that the drug becomes very toxic to cancer cells when it’s exposed to green light. This works on cancer cells in a lab, but it also works on tumors in mice and zebrafish.
“It was amazing to see the drug working on the cancer cells and in the zebrafish. We could see that the drug was safe when it wasn’t exposed to light, but it became active when we shone a light on it.
Most importantly, we saw that the drug could get to the tumor, even if it had to cross the blood-brain barrier to get to a brain tumor.”
The Future of This Drug
Zhang’s supervisor, Professor Sylvestre Bonnet, is very happy with Zhang’s work. But there’s still more to be done before this drug can be used to treat people.
“We’re now trying to see if we can activate the drug with red light. Green light is already being tested in Canada for bladder cancer, but red light can penetrate deeper into the body. We also need to do more tests to make sure that this drug is safe for the brain.”
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