To further advance the University of Texas at Arlington as a leader in health and the human condition, a physicist at the university has proposed a new concept for treating cancer cells.
The UTA physicist, Professor Wei Chen and a team of international collaborators, in a recently published paper in the journal Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine, advanced the idea of using titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles stimulated by microwaves to trigger the death of cancer cells without damaging the healthy cells around them.
This unique technique is called microwave-induced radical therapy, which the team refers to as micro dynamic therapy, or MDT.
The use of TiO2 nanoparticles activated by light and ultrasound in cancer treatments has been studied extensively, but this study marks the first time researchers have revealed that the nanoparticles can be effectively activated by microwaves for cancer cell destruction, potentially opening new doors to treatment for patients fighting the disease.
According to Chen, the new therapy centers on reactive oxygen species, or ROS, which are a natural byproduct of the body's metabolism of oxygen, ROS help kills toxins in the body, but can also be damaging to cells if they reach a critical level.
When TiO2 enters cells, it produces ROS, which can damage plasma membranes, mitochondria, and DNA, causing cell death.
Chen explained further that cancer cells are characterized by a higher steady-state saturation of ROS than average, healthy cells. This new therapy allows us to exploit that by raising the saturation of ROS in cancer cells to a critical level that triggers cell death without pushing the healthy cells to that same threshold.
Though TiO2 and lower-power microwave irradiation alone did not effectively kill cancer cells, the combination of the two proved successful in creating a toxic effect for the tumor cells. Microwave ablation therapy has already proven to be an effective treatment against bone cancer, obtaining better results than MDT. However, MDT has applications for combating other types of cancer, not just the osteosarcomas used for this pilot case.
Using light to activate ROS, as is seen in photodynamic therapy, can be challenging for the treatment of tumors deeply located within the body in contrast, microwaves lend the ability to create deeper penetration that propagates through all types of tissues and non-metallic materials.
Findings of the pilot study indicate MDT is a promising approach for cancer treatment even though the method is still being developed and its limitations explored. The research team has filed a patent for MDT. Next, the team plan to turn their attention to understanding the physics and internal mechanisms behind the powerful combination of microwaves and TiO2.
