By Bill Thomas | November 21
For decades, doctors have relied on four primary forms of therapy to treat pediatric cancer patients: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Each of these approaches has its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Consequently, some patients respond better to certain treatments than to others.
Unfortunately, even when a treatment is effective for a specific patient, cancer cells can become resistant over time. A therapy that previously worked for a patient may suddenly prove ineffective, and there’s no way for doctors to predict when it’ll happen.
Hoping to solve the problem of treatment resistance, researchers at Texas A&M University, Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have been working on a potential new form of cancer treatment. They call it the “molecular jackhammer” technique.
According to the team’s study published in Nature Chemistry, molecular jackhammers (MJHs) are nanoscopic mechanisms created by exposing cyanine molecules to near-infrared (NIR) light. Though most commonly used as synthetic dyes for bioimaging, researchers have discovered that the cyanines, when exposed to NIR, can vibrate at speeds of up to 40 trillion oscillations per second.
During research, this whole-cell vibration proved powerful enough to rupture the membranes of cancer cells, similar to the way vibrating jackhammers are able to tear through concrete and asphalt. Once the membranes are ruptured, the cancer cells rapidly decompensate and die.
The researchers tested MJHs using both lab cultures of human melanoma cells and mice with melanoma tumors. The MJHs showed 99% efficiency in killing the cancer cells in vitro and 50% of the mice treated with MJHs were confirmed cancer-free.
On top of such promising results, MJHs have the potential to offer other unique benefits. First, NIR light is able to penetrate deeper into the body than visible light, allowing MJHs to treat cancer cells inside bones and organs without damaging the surrounding tissue. Additionally, because cyanines have long been used for bioimaging purposes, doctors and researchers already know a lot about them and they are believed to be safe and non-toxic.
Because of their positive charge, cyanines can also easily adhere to the negatively charged phospholipid bilayers of cancer cells. Arguably the biggest advantage MJHs bring to the table, however, is their ability to destroy cancer cells through mechanical vibrations, rather than through radiation or chemical means. Researchers believe it would be impossible for cancer cells to develop a resistance to mechanical destruction. Thus, further study into MJHs could give doctors and patients a powerful new weapon for treating pediatric cancers.
“What needs to be highlighted is that we’ve discovered another explanation for how these molecules can work,” Ciceron Ayala-Orozco, the lead author of the study, said in a Rice University press release. “This is the first time a molecular plasmon is utilized in this way to excite the whole molecule and to actually produce mechanical action used to achieve a particular goal – in this case, tearing apart cancer cells’ membrane.”
As Dr. Ayala-Orozco explained: “This study is about a different way to treat cancer.”
Ayala-Orozco and his team plan to continue researching the molecular jackhammer technique. Anyone interested in learning more can read the full press release here or the study published in Nature Chemistry here. To stay up-to-date with all the latest news shaping the future of pediatric cancer treatment, don’t forget to follow the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation Profectus Blog!
