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Light could be a promising method of cancer treatment
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Light may become an effective and promising method of treating cancer, American researchers believe.
The results of the study by a group of US scientists were published in the journal Nature Medicine, which proposed to evaluate the possibilities of creating a new and effective drug. This drug can be delivered directly to the cancer cell and activated by light, which indicates a targeted and pinpoint nature of cancer treatment with minimal harm to surrounding healthy tissue.
Today, cancer treatment methods can be divided into three groups: radiation, surgery, and drug therapy. All of these treatment methods have side effects, so scientists are constantly looking for new methods to treat cancer.
Scientists at the Maryland Cancer Research Center used antibodies in their study that target protein receptors on the surface of cancer cells.
Attached to these antibodies was a substance called IR700, which begins to work when exposed to light.
To study the effectiveness of this method, the researchers implanted cancer cells into mice. Afterwards, the animals were given a drug and left near a source of infrared radiation.
The results of the experiment showed that the size of the tumor was significantly reduced compared to the control group. Laura McCallum, an official representative of the Cancer Foundation in Britain, emphasized that it is too early to talk about the effectiveness of the method in treating cancer in humans, since this study was conducted on animals.
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