Medium highlights UC research of light as treatment for cancer

Medium recently highlighted University of Cincinnati research that shows early indications that light can be used as a treatment for certain diseases, including cancer.

Jiajie Diao, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Cancer Biology in UC’s College of Medicine and a University of Cincinnati Cancer Center member, and colleagues at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University at Buffalo published the results of their study demonstrating light-activated proteins can help normalize dysfunction within cells in the journal Nature Communications July 25.

The researchers attached two separate proteins to mitochondria and lysosomes within stem cells. When stimulated by blue light, the proteins naturally bind to each other to form one new protein, which also brings the mitochondria and lysosome into contact. Once they are brought together, the lysosome can cut the mitochondria, achieving fission.

“We found that it can recover the mitochondrial function,” Diao said. “Some of the cells can even go back to normal. This proves that by just using some simple light stimulation we can at least partially recover the mitochondrial function of the cell.”

Read the Medium article.

Read more about the research.

Featured photo at top of Jiajie Diao working in his lab. Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Marketing + Brand.