Light-activated antibody therapy could pave the way for a new acutely targeted treatment of cancer cells. Scientists at the University of East Anglia in the UK have successfully engineered antibody fragments that are activated by a specific wavelength of UV light and form a covalent bond with nearby cancer cells.
“A covalent bond is a bit like melting two pieces of plastic and fusing them together,” explained Dr. Amit Sachdeva from the United Arab Emirates School of Chemistry and principal investigator of the study. “This could, for example, be used to permanently fix drug molecules to a tumor.”
While current monoclonal antibody therapy typically causes fewer side effects than cell-killing cytostatics used in chemotherapy, common complaints include lethargy, headache, nausea, dizziness, and chills.
“Several antibodies and antibody fragments have already been developed, but they can still cause serious side effects because antibody targets are also present on healthy cells,” said Dr. Sachdeva. “This means they can cause side effects like hair loss, fatigue and nausea, and put patients at increased risk of infection.”
In the new treatment, LED lights would be positioned near a tumor and, when switched on, activate the biotherapeutic drugs, which then bind to the cancer cells. The lights could be used superficially for skin cancer or surgically implanted at the site of a tumor.
“This would allow for more efficient and targeted cancer treatment because only molecules near the tumor would be activated and other cells would not be affected,” said Dr. Sachdeva. “This would potentially reduce side effects for patients and also improve how long antibodies stay in the body.”
While the researchers note that this would not be an effective treatment for some variants of the disease, such as blood cancer or leukemia, Dr. Sachdeva said this therapy could be used in patients within a decade if their work successfully advances to the next phase.
“We hope that our work will lead to the development of a new class of highly targeted photoresponsive biotherapeutics,” said Dr. Sachdeva.
The team’s work was published in the journal Natural Chemical Biology.
Source: University of East Anglia
Source: newatlas.com
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