Current cancer therapies often fail to cure patients. Ideally, a cancer therapy should locally eradicate the cancer and should be capable of creating a memory to protect from recurrences.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment approach in which cancer cells are killed with compounds, named photosensitizers that are activated locally through light exposure. Importantly, PDT eradication of cancers commonly involves the immune system. However, current PDT is only partly cancer specific and patients remain sensitive to light for several weeks.
Recently, I have developed an improved version of targeted PDT that uses very small antibodies, i.e. nanobodies, to target the photosensitizer. Nanobodies distribute homogenously, bind rapidly and specifically to cancer cells, resolving the issues of PDT.
Within the KILLCANCER project we have been focusing on better understanding the mechanism of nanobody-targeted PDT, its potential to induce tumor regression in vivo, and its capacity to trigger the immune system. In addition, we have been preparing for stepping into the veterinary clinic and test our treatment in spontaneously developing cancers in companion animals, namely cats with oral cancer.
The outcome of this research has scientifically advanced the new field of nanobody-targeted PDT, by providing essential information on its mechanism of action. Current efforts are in evaluating this treatment in the veterinary clinic, which will give insights into the feasibility of this approach in human cancer patients, to ultimately improve current cancer treatment.
