Northeastern researcher uses light to target and kill cancer cells
Fleury Augustin Nsole Biteghe is using light-sensitive drugs to target two of the deadliest cancers — without the toxic side effects of traditional chemotherapy.
A Northeastern University researcher has identified a way to target two of the deadliest cancer types, melanoma and triple negative breast cancer, with chemotherapy drugs but without the harms associated with chemotherapy.
Both cancers are typically resistant to chemotherapy, says Fleury Augustin Nsole Biteghe, a lecturer in biotechnology, chemistry and chemical biology. But by attaching a light-sensitive drug to a protein called MTf — which appears abundantly in both cancers — and bathing the drug-infused protein in near-infrared light, cancer cells die.
Using antibodies to target cancer proteins is typically performed by using multiple drugs at once, Nsole Biteghe says. But this approach stimulates the immune system so much that it can end up attacking healthy body tissues, he says.
“The antibody is like a key and we know what the lock is,” he says.
His research, published in the journal Cancer Medicine, describes a technique to make this therapy more precise.
“By using just one drug, we enhanced the efficacy,” Nsole Biteghe says. “It enables doctors to directly correlate the drug that is going into the cells with the therapeutic outcome.”
His innovation is to use local light, or photoimmunotherapy, to induce a chemotherapy drug to kill cancer cells with minimal toxicity to healthy tissues. His research focused on using a “SNAP-tag” protein to connect an antibody to a light-sensitive drug, which creates a stable, single-drug delivery system to target cancer cells.
Triple negative breast cancer gets its name from its lack of three receptors: estrogen, progesterone and human epidermal growth factor2, making treatments that target those receptors ineffective.
“Due to the lack of well-defined molecular targets, treatment relies heavily on surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy,” Nsole Biteght says, ”despite growing evidence of adverse effects and disease relapses.”
Chemotherapy infusions can create a whole cascade of problems, including hair loss, nausea and fatigue. Unlike infusions, light therapy is highly targeted, Nsole Biteghe says. The near-infrared light activates the drug attached to an antibody that precisely bonds with MTf, making it possible to target cancer cells with chemotherapy drugs.
Shining light on it, he says, creates a “bomb” at the cellular level. The antibody reacts by producing cytotoxic reactive oxygen species, he says, which accumulate and cause tumor cell death.
