Eliminating and reversing tumor growths with light-activated nanoparticles

Current treatment options for advanced pancreatic cancer are limited in their ability to reverse the growth of large, established tumors, which contributes to an incredibly low five-year survival rate of 9%. Ghosh et al. developed an anti-cancer treatment that uses light-activated nanoparticles to induce noticeable reversals in tumor growth when combined with traditional chemotherapy approaches.

The technique works by improving the delivery of anti-cancer chemicals called immune checkpoint inhibitors to the tumor cells. By incorporating light-activated nanoparticles that can enter the tumor cells and release their drugs on demand, the team’s technique enabled tumor cells to be more accurately targeted and penetrated with the correct drug dosages. In the study, medium-sized tumors that were about 200 square millimeters were eliminated without recurrence for 100 days, and large-sized tumors of about 400 square millimeters shrank and were slower to regrow.

“We found that combining light-activated chemotherapy with immunotherapy could potently shrink large established tumors in mice,” author Jonathan Lovell said. “We measured tumor growth inhibition in mice and also looked into the mechanism for the potency of the combination treatment.”

To investigate their technique, the authors inoculated tumors in mice – some of whom received some combination of immunotherapy and nanoparticles that the authors activated via a laser. These results were compared to those from mice who received no immunotherapy and/or laser-activated treatment.

The team hopes the technique will later be expanded to clinical trials.

“Translation to clinical trials would be a huge step that would involve identifying the right indication within cancer where such an approach could be feasible,” Lovell said.

Source: “Immune checkpoint blockade enhances chemophototherapy in a syngeneic pancreatic tumor model,” by Sanjana Ghosh, Xuedan He, Wei-Chiao Huang, and Jonathan F. Lovell, APL Bioengineering (2022). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0099811 .

This paper is part of the Drug/Gene Delivery and Theranostics Collection, learn more here .