Yasmina Kattou / Photo credit: THOMAS KIENZLE / AFP 06:08, May 22, 2023
A Franco-Swedish team of researchers has developed a new molecule that attacks cancer cells under the effect of light. The molecule, derived from a textile dye, accumulates specifically in the cells in question and then becomes toxic on contact with light.Defeating cancer with a dye? In any case, this is the objective pursued by a team of Franco-Swedish researchers. They have developed a new molecule, derived from a textile dye, to perform photochemotherapy, in other words the treatment of a tumor with light.
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To achieve their goals, the scientists modified the structure of a molecule derived from the yellow dye. However, said molecule, like all dyes, is sensitive to light. When it receives it, it becomes unstable due to a surplus of energy that it must evacuate. Administered next to a tumor, it would act like a small bomb by destroying cancer cells. This approach has many advantages, explains Cyrille Monnereau, a researcher at ENS.
A molecule produced on a very large scale
"It will be possible to have a therapeutic effect without injecting huge amounts of this product. And therefore potentially limit the side effects, that is to say the accumulation of molecules in healthy tissues and cell death that could occur if concentrations of molecules were too high, "says the scientist.
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Treatment doses could be divided by 10 or even 100. Moreover, since this molecule is produced on a very large scale, this could pave the way for a new low-cost therapy to fight cancer, if human trials prove conclusive.