Scientists Find Breakthrough Use of Light to Kill Cancer Cells
In a world-first, scientists have developed a breakthrough treatment that uses light to kill cancer cells.
We often think of light as a life-giving source, but in the case of photoimmunotherapy — the use of light to help a person’s own immune system fight cancer — light can both be a source of life, for the patient, and death, to cancer cells.
A multidisciplinary team of European scientists joined forces to design the new treatment, which works by combining a special fluorescent dye with a cancer-targeting compound.
Shining light on the compound forces cancer cells to glow in the dark, helping surgeons to remove more of the tumors compared with existing techniques.
Then, the surgeon would shine near-infrared light on the site, switching the compound into tumor-killing mode and killing off any remaining cells.
The trial of this therapy was done on mice with a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma.
Findings showed that the mice had clear signs of tumor death in as little as one hour after exposure to the light. The treatment also triggered an immune response that could mount a new attack on cancer should it come back.
Study leader Dr. Gabriella Kramer-Marek told The Guardian, “Brain cancers like glioblastoma can be hard to treat, and sadly, there are too few treatment options for patients. Surgery is challenging due to the location of the tumors, and so new ways to see tumor cells to be removed during surgery and to treat residual cancer cells that remain afterward could be of great benefit.”
Scientists are quite hopeful that the results will be duplicated when they study the treatment of humans. In the meantime, this trial has shined a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
Color Your World: How Colors Heal
Close your eyes. There are three rooms to choose from – blue, green, red. Which are you drawn to? Which do you turn away from?
In your mind, open the door and walk in and out of each space. How do you feel in a  bright blue room? Blood red? Pea-green? Peaceful? Focused? Energized? Colors are more than paint swatches or a box of crayons. We live in a technicolor world, from our homes to our cars, to our wardrobe, to the natural spaces we inhabit.
Blue is not only blue, but it is also cerulean, turquoise, robin’s egg. It’s no coincidence that crime scenes are marked with yellow tape, or that traffic signs are yellow, green, and red. These are colors that we associate with certain responses — STOP! PAY ATTENTION! GO! But more than color’s ability to provide beauty, or inform us, “color is fundamental to our experience of the world around us,” and more importantly, color is integral to our power to heal.
Primary Colors and the Power to Heal
A brief look at the primary colors and their emotional and psychological effects can provide a solid ground to learning how to bring color therapy into your own life:
- Red: Energetic, passionate, sexual appetite and general vitality
- Yellow: Joy, non-attachment, free-spiritedness, generosity
- Blue: balance, strong survival instincts, clarity, calm nervous system
- White: Clarity, space, purity, spaciousness
- Black: Strength, power, autonomy, intelligence
