Single Injectable Agent Spots Tumors and Destroys Them (in research lab)

Medgadget
 
At Oregon State University scientists are using silicon naphthalocyanine as both an imaging and cancer destruction agent, allowing for a single compound to be used to quickly find and target tumor tissue. Reporting at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists in Orlando, Florida, the team presented pre-clinical findings of how silicon naphthalocyanine was used to destroy ovarian tumors in laboratory animals, seemingly without side effects and without the cancer returning.
Silicon naphthalocyanine glows when illuminated with near infrared light, while heating up and creating reactive oxygen species. It’s delivered inside the copolymer PEG-PCL that gathers around cancer cells, pointing to the location of the tumors. Once settled, therapy can begin by administering near infrared light to the areas where the tumors are. The particles eventually breakdown and are excreted by the body.
Study in Chemistry of Materials: Naphthalocyanine-Based Biodegradable Polymeric Nanoparticles for Image-Guided Combinatorial Phototherapy…