Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• One of the downsides of many cancer therapies is that they can be indiscriminate, damaging healthy cells in the pursuit of killing off cancer cells.
• A new non-invasive, light-based method called near-infrared photothermal therapy uses tin-based nanoflakes to target cancer cells while protecting healthy ones.
• Preliminary results show that this treatment successfully killed 92 percent of skin cancer cells and 50 percent of colorectal cells

---

Chemotherapy is our most effective tool at fighting many forms of cancer, but due to its mostly indiscriminate nature, healthy tissues are often caught in the crossfire between these radiative drugs and cancer cells. Scientists have made remarkable progress trying to limit the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy—even looking to the biology of extremophiles like tardigrades for inspiration—while others have investigated ways to fight cancer through different means entirely.

It’s this second strategy that’s become the sole focus of one team of researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) and the University of Porto in Portugal. In a new paper published in the journal ACS Nano, the team provides details of a cancer-fighting treatment known as near-infrared photothermal therapy, which relies on light and nanomaterials—specifically, tin-based two-dimensional nanoflakes, or SnOx (Sn is tin on the periodic table)—to essentially serve a fatal dose of heat via lasers to cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched.

“Our goal was to create a treatment that is not only effective but also safe and accessible,” Jean Anne Incorvia, a co-author of the study from UT Austin, said in a press statement. “With the combination of LED light and SnOx nanoflakes, we’ve developed a method to precisely target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched.”

According to Wired, the system relies on near-infrared LEDs (NIR-LEDs) that emit light at 810 nanometers, which is the same wavelength that scientists use for photobiomodulation, used to stimulate cellular and healing processes. Once a sample is irradiated, the tiny nanoflakes get to work infiltrating cancerous cells, absorbing light, and transferring that light into heat to eventually destroy the cell.

Preliminary results when tested with human cells show that the treatment killed up to 92 percent of skin cancer cells and 50 percent of colorectal cancer cells—all while protecting healthy cells in the process. The entire system only costs $530 and can irradiate 24 samples at a time, meaning that near-infrared photothermal therapy could also be an affordable therapeutic option.

“Our ultimate goal is to make this technology available to patients everywhere, especially places where access to specialized equipment is limited, with fewer side effects and lower cost,” Artur Pinto, a co-author of the study from the University of Porto, said in a press statement. “For skin cancers in particular, we envision that one day, treatment could move from the hospital to the patient’s home. A portable device could be placed on the skin after surgery to irradiate and destroy any remaining cancer cells, reducing the risk of recurrence.”

The authors admit that there’s more work to do. For one, they hope to explore more catalyst materials and improve efficiency while moving this treatment through more clinical trials. Today, cancer remains the second-leading cause of death worldwide, but it looks like a new light-based ally is ready to enter the fight.

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.