Capitol News

Michigan State University researchers, in collaboration with experts from the University of California, Riverside, are advancing a new light-activated therapy targeting aggressive breast cancer. The project involves MSU professors Sophia Lunt and Richard Lunt, alongside Vincent Lavallo from UC Riverside, who are working to develop cyanine-carborane salts. These compounds, used in photodynamic therapy (PDT), aim to destroy metastatic breast cancer tumors with minimal side effects.

"Our innovative cyanine-carborane salts offer a targeted option with reduced side effects for patients with aggressive breast cancer,” said Sophia Lunt. "We expect this research will lead to safer and more effective therapies for patients with limited treatment options.”

Traditionally, patients undergoing PDT must avoid sunlight for months to prevent skin damage. However, these cyanine-carborane salts are designed to be cleared from the body faster, reducing such risks. Hyllana Medeiros, a postdoctoral researcher involved in the mouse studies, explained, “Current FDA-approved PDT chemicals remain in other parts of the body, such as the skin, for extended periods of time. After traditional PDT treatment, the patient has to stay in the dark for two-three months because even low levels of light will cause their skin to become blistered and burned.”

The research team is hopeful that these new compounds will not only treat breast cancer but also provide a pathway to target other cancers. Amir Roshanzadeh, an MSU graduate student and first author on the paper, added, "Our work offers an effective treatment for aggressive breast cancers. It also opens the door to breakthroughs for treating additional cancers and targeted drug delivery."

Looking beyond breast cancer, the researchers plan to investigate these salts' effectiveness with other cancer types. Richard Lunt emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts in tackling complex challenges such as cancer, stating, “Truly novel discoveries that enable solutions to problems as complex as cancer require multidisciplinary teams like ours. This research is a perfect demonstration of what can be achieved when you combine several different researchers with vastly different backgrounds spanning cancer biology, chemistry, and materials science engineering; good things happen.”

The findings have been documented in an article published by Angewandte Chemie, a journal of the German Chemical Society.