RESEARCHERS FROM the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge have developed a technology that may someday provide people who have cancer with a new, minimally invasive treatment option.

The technology combines phototherapy, which uses light as a form of treatment, and chemotherapy to treat a tumor locally. This local treatment is designed to decrease tumor size without the side effects that occur with traditional systemic chemotherapy.

Ana Jaklenec, a researcher in bioengineering and materials science at MIT’s David H. Koch Ins ti tute for Integrative Cancer Research, and colleagues designed microparticles that can be directly injected into tumors and then activated by a near-infrared laser to produce heat and release chemotherapy to that tumor. The microparticles contain a substance called molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), which absorbs light and produces heat.

“These particles are about the size of a grain of salt—about 200 microns or so,” Jaklenec says. “They are injected into the tumor mass, and then an external laser is applied to heat the MoS2.”

When the laser is applied to the skin where the microparticles are injected, the MoS2 converts the laser light to heat, and that heat works to kill cancer cells. At the same time, the heat softens the polymer of the microparticles, releasing a chemotherapeutic drug.

Researchers tested the approach in mouse models using triple-negative breast cancer cell lines. The researchers injected the tiny particles into the tumor and exposed the particles to laser therapy. The combination of laser and chemotherapy completely eradicated the treated tumor and extended median survival to 39 days, compared with 16 days median survival in the control groups, according to a study published Oct. 27, 2024, in ACS Nano.

“The drug performs its action and gets cleared [from the body],” Jaklenec says. “The polymer is biodegradable and will degrade over time.”

With the encouraging results of this initial study, Jaklenec and colleagues are starting to test this technology in other animal models for breast cancer that has metastasized to the bone.

“The goal is to do a proof of concept in animals,” Jaklenec says, “and get into a clinical trial in the next couple of years.”