A New Light-Based Cancer Treatment Kills Tumor Cells and Spares Healthy Ones

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Porto have developed tin oxide (SnOx) nanoflakes that efficiently convert near-infrared (NIR) light into heat to selectively destroy cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. These nanoflakes, less than 20 nanometers thick, accumulate in tumor tissues and, when exposed to NIR light at 810 nanometers, generate localized heat sufficient to kill cancer cells without damaging surrounding healthy cells. This approach represents an advancement in photothermal therapy, a noninvasive cancer treatment that uses light-activated materials to heat and eliminate tumors. The team designed an affordable and safe experimental setup using NIR-LEDs instead of traditional lasers, providing stable, homogeneous illumination with minimal risk of overheating. This system, costing about $530 and capable of treating multiple samples simultaneously, offers a practical tool for biomedical research. In laboratory tests, the SnOx nanoflake treatment killed up to 92% of skin cancer cells and