A New Light-Based Cancer Treatment Kills Tumor Cells and Spares Healthy Ones

In the fight Against cancer, an important area of ​​research is the search for safe alternatives to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These treatments attack both cancer cells and healthy cells, exposing patients to serious side effects.

A team of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Porto in Portugal has just taken another step toward an alternative. They developed materials that could safely and effectively convert near-infrared, or NIR, light into highly targeted heat against cancer cells. Their materials are tin oxide (SnO_x) nanovials, tiny particles less than 20 nanometers thick (one nanometer is one thousandth of a meter).

The team’s findings, published in the journal ACS Nano, offer new hope for the design of photothermal therapies, the name given to these types of light-based treatments.

Photothermal therapy is a non-invasive procedure that heats cancer cells to destroy them. It works by infiltrating cancer cells with materials that absorb light and turn it into heat – in this case, SnO._x nanoflakes, which can be engineered to accumulate specifically in tumor tissues. They are then targeted with light at a wavelength that gives these materials the energy they need to produce cancer-causing heat but does not harm healthy tissue.

The researchers propose that their SnO_x Nanoflakes could improve these types of treatments by offering greater thermal efficiency, biocompatibility and affordability than other materials used in such processes.

“Our goal was to create a treatment that was not only effective but also safe and accessible,” Jean Anne Incorvia, a professor of engineering at UT and one of the project leaders, said in a press release. “With the combination of LED light and SnO_x nanoflakes, we have developed a method to precisely target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact.

To evaluate the thermal efficiency of their new material, the team developed a proprietary system based on near-infrared LEDs (NIR-LEDs) that emit light at a wavelength of 810 nanometers, safe for biological tissues. Unlike traditional laser systems, NIR LEDs provide more even and stable lighting, reduce the risk of overheating and require minimal investment. The entire experimental device, capable of irradiating up to 24 samples at the same time, costs around $530, making it an affordable and versatile tool for biomedical research.

NIR transmission results on SnO_xThe treated cancer cells were encouraging. UT reported that in just 30 minutes of exposure, the method killed up to 92 percent of skin cancer cells and 50 percent of colorectal cancer cells. This was achieved without any harmful effects on healthy skin cells, demonstrating the safety and selectivity of this approach.