Modulight Spotlights: LASER-SHARP RESEARCH – November 2024 The lungs are common site of cancer metastasis, with isolated pulmonary metastases most often affecting patients with colorectal cancer and sarcomas. Surgical metastasectomy is the standard treatment, however, only 1 in 10 patients qualify for surgical resection thus the management remains a significant clinical challenge. To tackle this challenge, K. Ramadan et al. studied photodynamic therapy in an isolated lung perfusion model where the blood is replaced with acellular perfusate, allowing greater light penetration. The feasibility and safety Continue reading →

Modulight Spotlights: LASER-SHARP RESEARCH – October 2024 This month, we are highlighting new findings published in RSC Materials Advances by Olga Lem, Roosa Kekki and researchers at Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology research group and Tampere University. The study provides key insights into the role of lipid oxidation in cargo release from light-activated liposomes. These spherical lipid vesicles can be controlled by light to provide time- and site-specific drug delivery, for example for cancer treatment. Red light provides a non-invasive, selective, and safe trigger for releasing liposomal cargo. Modulight’s Continue reading →

Published in: Advanced NanoBioMed Research Authors: John A. Quinlan, Kaylin Baumiller, Anandita Gaur, Wen-An Chiou, Robert W. Robey, Michael M. Gottesman, Huang-Chiao Huang A nanosuspension of verteporfin, termed NanoVP, that requires no carriers is developed, permitting delivery of VP alone in an aqueous solution. NanoVP is produced by solvent–antisolvent precipitation, with dimethyl sulfoxide as the preferable solvent. The paper describes the characterization of NanoVP, including bioavailability and anticancer capacity in glioblastoma with ML6600 laser irradiation, as well as potontial of NanoVP for light-independent therapy.   Read Continue reading →

Modulight Spotlights: LASER-SHARP RESEARCH – September 2024 University of Maryland and Modulight have published together a new research study about the mechanisms of cancer drug resistance. Drug resistance is a leading cause of treatment failure and often has dramatic consequences for survival of cancer patients. Cancer cells have developed various ways to protect themselves from drugs. When several clinically used photoactive drugs were studied, it was shown that some of them were being actively pumped out by cancer cells, thus likely limiting the full therapeutic potential Continue reading →

Published in: Cancer Drug Resistance Authors: Shruti Vig1, Payal Srivastava1,#, Idrisa Rahman1,2,#, Renee Jaranson1, Anika Dasgupta1, Robert Perttilä3, Petteri Uusimaa3, Huang-Chiao Huang1 University of Maryland and Modulight have published together a new research study about the mechanisms of cancer drug resistance. Drug resistance is a leading cause of treatment failure and often has dramatic consequences for survival of cancer patients. Cancer cells have developed various ways to protect themselves from drugs. When several clinically used photoactive drugs were studied, it was shown that some of them were being actively pumped out by cancer cells, thus likely limiting the full therapeutic potential of these Continue reading →

Modulight Spotlights: LASER-SHARP RESEARCH – August 2024 This month’s research highlight goes to Hirofumi Hanaoka and the team at Kansai Medical University, Japan. They developed a new laser fiber and method for illumination of narrow cavities, such as esophagus. With typical laser fibers, it is difficult to precisely illuminate target tumor in a narrow space at an oblique angle, since there is not enough space for fiber bending. The new lateral (side) emitting laser fiber was developed and evaluated for near-infrared photoimmunotherapy, which combines light, Continue reading →

Modulight Spotlights: LASER-SHARP RESEARCH – July 2024 Exciting new findings in prostate cancer research were reported by Xinning Wang and team at Case Western University, Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men and despite typically good prognosis, is a leading cause of cancer-related death. In the new study, the team combined chemotherapy with a novel light-activated, theranostic agent to enable targeted imaging and treatment of prostate cancer. Using ML7710 laser at 672 nm for activation of the drug, they were Continue reading →

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a disease causing choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and consequent irreversible damage in the macula. AMD is classified into dry (atrophic) and wet (exudative) forms, with the latter causing faster vision loss and being the leading cause of blindness in people over 65. Introduction to AMD Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes for  visual impairment. AMD is charactirized by development of Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and consequent irreversible damage in the macula. CNV means abnormal Continue reading →