Biochemist Working to Make Chemo Sans Side Effects

Although cancer treatments have come quite a long way in terms of improving health outcomes and post-diagnosis expectancy rates, treatment is rarely ever pleasant. Most cancer patients who undergo treatments such as chemotherapy will experience side effects including hair loss, anemia, infections, nausea, loss of appetite, fatigue, bruising and bleeding. In many cases, these symptoms can be so severe that patients have to take additional steps to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy.

Biochemist Liyan Zhang is working to develop a chemotherapy drug that can deliver the benefit without subjecting patients to severe side effects. Zhang notes that while chemotherapy drugs are great at eliminating cancer cells, they often kill surrounding healthy tissues as well.

As part of her PhD research at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, the biochemist and her supervisor, professor in bioinorganic chemistry Sylvestre Bonnet developed a type of chemo that doesn’t have side effects. The new type of chemotherapy is based on light-switching properties and is only effective when it is exposed to visible light.

According to Zhang, once the medication is administered and reaches the tumor, a laser is shined on the tumor to activate the medicine. Organs such as the bladder and lungs that are close to the surface of the skin are easily accessible while optical fiber technology can be used to reach deeper organs such as the liver and brain.

Experiments using zebrafish and mouse models revealed that the drug became “highly toxic” to cancer cells when exposed to green light. Zhang explains that the drugs remained inactive and safe at certain doses in the dark but became active when exposed to visible light. Furthermore, the active drug was able to cross the blood-brain barrier in the brain to accumulate in the tumor, significantly reducing its effect on surrounding healthy tissue.

If this new type of chemotherapy is proven safe in human studies, it could revolutionize cancer treatment across the world. More than 54% of cancer patients report experiencing side effects after chemo, with fatigue, diarrhea and constipation being the most common side effects.

Bonnet says the next step would be to activate the chemotherapy drugs with red light as it penetrates deeper into tissue than the green light that is currently being used. Given the difference between the zebrafish and mice tumor models used in the study compared to humans, the team may also need red or near-infrared light to activate the chemotherapy drugs, Bonnet says.

Many more teams, such as the research team at CNS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSP), are also focusing on developing better treatments targeting cancer. These efforts could yield superior treatment options that will not only give cancer patients better clinical outcomes but also result in fewer side effects.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CNS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSP) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CNSP

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