Scientists have discovered an exciting new cancer treatment that uses light to precisely target and destroy cancer cells without harming nearby healthy cells. By using a technique called optogenetics, researchers can activate a death pathway in cancer cells, which not only kills them but also triggers the immune system to fight back. This innovative approach could revolutionize cancer therapy by reducing unwanted side effects and training the immune system to recognize and attack cancer more effectively. The breakthrough, which involves using plant genes to make cells responsive to light, opens the door to more targeted and less harmful cancer treatments.
Cancer treatments that try to kill cancer cells frequently hurt and damage nearby cells and tissues in the process. However, according to a recent study, scientists have found a new way to precisely destroy dangerous cells by directing light toward them.
“Usually treatments for cancer use pharmacological induction to kill the cells, but those chemicals tend to diffuse throughout the tissues and it’s hard to contain to a precise location,” said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign biochemistry professor and study leader Kai Zhang in a press release. “You get a lot of unwanted effects.”
The method the researchers employ to focus a laser beam on a target smaller than one cell is called optogenetics, which is the use of optical devices to control cell functioning reports Huey Freeman from The Epoch Times.
According to the press release, Mr. Zhang stated, “That is how we can use light to very precisely target a cell and turn on its death pathway.”
The goal is not just to destroy the cancer cell but also to make the immune system react to the light. According to Mr. Zhang, the broken cells produce cytokines, which are tiny proteins that draw white blood cells to the area to aid the immune system in fighting infection. According to Mr. Zhang, the goal of the research is to teach T-cell white blood cells to identify and combat cancer by eliminating cancer cells.
Through the insertion of a light-activated gene from plants into intestinal cell cultures, the researchers were able to induce the cells to respond to light. The genes for RIPK3, a protein that controls necroptosis, a type of cell death brought on by a variety of triggers, were then joined to those genes.
Jung Teak Oh, the first author of the article and a graduate student, explained that the RIPK3 proteins cluster together as a result of the light activation process, emulating the natural death pathway.
“Understanding the cell signaling pathway for necroptosis is especially important because it has been known to be involved with diseases like neurodegenerative disease and inflammatory bowel disease,” said Mr. Oh. “Knowing how necroptosis affects progression in these diseases is important. And if you don’t know the molecular mechanisms, you don’t really know what to target to slow the progression.”
The Journal of Molecular Biology published the study in its July issue.
Last year, GreatGameIndia reported that Prof. Polina Stepensky, head of the department at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel, announced a groundbreaking treatment for multiple myeloma cancer. The treatment boasts a 90% success rate.
