Ultra-Violet Light Eyed as Tool to Fight Cancer

Newcastle University researchers Professor Colin Self and Dr. Stephen Thompson have designed a new way to fight cancer using ultra-violet light. The light activates 'cloaked' antibodies to specifically fight tumor cells.

While antibodies have been known to be a potentially successful weapon against cancer, thus far it has been difficult to gather the proper concentration of antibodies to effectively fight the tumor. Now the British researchers found a way to effectively gather up just such a massive force of antibodies to fight tumor cells.

The researchers were able to develop a method to cloak antibodies. These cloaked antibodies are injected into the patient. After a waiting period, usually not more than an hour, to allow the cloaked antibodies to be distributed through the body by the blood stream, the light treatment begins. UV-A light is shined on the cancer-affected area of the body for only a few minutes. The cloaked antibodies get activated through the light and this causes them to bind themselves to T-cells in the patient's body. T-cells are part of a body's immune system. The action of the cloaked antibodies causes the T-cells to attack the tissue in the area around it. Through this technique the antibodies' attack is concentrated on just the specific tumor-cell containing area of the body, which provides maximum tumor fighting power while reducing the risk of damage to the healthy areas of the body. Therefore, there would be fewer side effects caused by this targeted attack.

The cloaking of the antibodies is achieved by applying a coat of organic oil to the surface of each antibody. The organic oil is photocleavable. This specific coat stops the antibodies from any activation within a patient's body until the UV-A light illuminates them.

The researchers demonstrated through their studies that the cloaked antibodies could effectively be used alone. However, they can also be used together with other antibodies, which have been used to fight a wide variety of cancer. For the latter method, a bispecific complex would be build with one antibody binding itself to a T-cell and the other to a tumor marker. The T-cell binding part would still only get activated by UV-A light and would remain inactive in other areas of the body.

The scientists stated their studies indicated that normal sunlight exposure should not activate the cloaked antibodies. However, their advice still is for patients to avoid direct sunlight exposure after the treatment for at least a short timeframe.