Abu Dhabi: Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi’s Magzoub Biophysics Lab have achieved a significant advancement by developing biocompatible and biodegradable tumor-targeting nanospheres. These nanospheres not only enable tumor detection and monitoring but also enhance the effectiveness of light-triggered cancer therapy, marking a major advancement in light-based treatments.
As non-invasive, light-based therapies, photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) have the potential to be safe and effective alternatives to conventional cancer treatments, which are beset by a number of issues, including a range of side effects and post-treatment complications. Nanocarriers designed to deliver PDT and PTT more effectively have also proven to have significant limitations.
Because ROS is a highly reactive molecule with a very short lifetime and a limited radius of action, it is imperative that a sufficient amount of the photosensitiser molecule is present in the tumor tissue for PDT to be effective. In addition, the localized hyperthermia required for PTT is dependent on significant accumulation of photothermal agents within tumors.
Mr. Loganathan Palanikumar, senior researcher in the Magzoub lab, shared.
PDT and PTT utilize different approaches for attacking tumors. PDT uses laser irradiation to activate a photosensitizer to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), a highly reactive chemical that is toxic to cancer cells. In PTT, a molecule called a photothermal agent converts absorbed light into heat, with the resulting hyperthermia leading to the partial or complete destruction of tumor tissue.
“New therapeutic approaches are desperately needed to enhance the existing arsenal of cancer-fighting treatments. The multifunctional core-shell nanospheres our team has developed help to overcome issues that have limited the efficacy of key light-based therapies, offering a promising tumor-targeting nanoplatform that facilitates multimodal diagnostic imaging and potent combinatorial cancer therapy. This work opens up an exciting path forward for the advancement of light-based cancer treatments,” Mr. Mazin Magzoub, NYUAD associate professor of biology, commented.