Could light make cancer treatment safer? UNC researchers think so - WRAL

For many cancer patients, beating the disease comes at a cost.  Treatments that save lives can also leave patients with lasting side effects, including nerve damage, hearing loss, and other complications that affect quality of life long after the cancer is gone. The challenge for doctors is destroying tumors while minimizing harm to the rest of the body. But because many cancer drugs circulate throughout the bloodstream, healthy tissue often becomes collateral damage. A team of UNC-Chapel Hill researchers is working to change that.  Led by Brianna Vickerman, a research assistant professor with Eshelman Innovation in Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the team is investigating a new approach that uses light to activate medication only at the disease site.  “What we’re focusing on is drugs that are already known to be really effective and potent, but they may have systemic side effects,” Vickerman explained. “They’re often given at higher doses to be able to have effective concentrations at the disease site. However, these doses often then attack and affect healthy sites. We’re looking at being able to take these drugs and target them only at the disease site.” The current UNC research project focuses on head and neck cancers, where current treatments can leave patients with lifelong side effects.  Rather than creating a new drug, researchers are redesigning how existing medications are delivered.  “We don’t actually have to change the drugs themselves. We’re able to reformulate them by encapsulating them into carriers, and when they’re inside these carriers, they can circulate throughout the body and not be active at healthy sites,” Vickerman explained of the research. “When we illuminate the disease area with light, there is a switch on these carriers that then is activated, and it causes the destruction of the carriers to release the drug exactly where we want it.” The approach builds on earlier research using light-controlled drug delivery for cardiovascular disease, including thrombolytic drugs designed to dissolve blood clots. “With current cancer treatments, a lot of time there is a trade off on whether patients can be treated but then have chronic issues throughout their life,” Vickerman said. She continued, “It’s kind of this balancing act. What we hope to do with this type of technology is balance those scales where you can still treat the cancer, but not have these chronic side effects.” The work recently received a two-year commercialization-focused innovation grant that will allow researchers to continue testing the technology in cancer models with the long-term goal of moving it toward clinical development.  “Without funding, we aren’t able to move any of this forward,” Vickerman said. “Being able to apply this platform to cancer applications has been something we’ve been really interested in for a while. Being able to have this innovation grant to do so allows us to move forward.” Looking ahead, Vickerman shared her ultimate goal is to see the work evolve into clinical application.  “Ten years from now, I would love to see this in the clinic impacting patients so that they’re able to undergo these different treatments, either cancer or in cardiovascular disease, and be able to be treated in a safer and more effective way,” Vickerman said.