"A European team of engineers, physicists, neurosurgeons, biologists and immunologists from the UK, Poland and Sweden joined forces to design the new form of photoimmunotherapy. Experts believe it is destined to become the world’s fifth major cancer treatment after surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. The light-activated therapy forces cancer cells to glow in the dark, helping surgeons remove more of the tumours compared with existing techniques – and then kills off remaining cells within minutes once the surgery is complete. In a world-first trial in mice with glioblastoma, one of the most common and aggressive types of brain cancer, scans revealed the novel treatment lit up even the tiniest cancer cells to help surgeons remove them – and then wiped out those left over. “Photoimmunotherapies could help us to target the cancer cells that can’t be removed during surgery, which may help people live longer after their treatment,” said Dr Charles Evans, the research information manager at Cancer Research UK. He cautioned that there were still technical challenges to overcome, such as reaching all parts of a tumour with near-infrared light, but added that he was “excited to see how this research will develop”. Ironic, eh? https://www.theguardian.com/society...o-target-and-kill-cancer-cells-in-world-first
