treatment

The most unexpected treatment against cancer is LED light, and it is giving good results

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Currently there are many research groups that have a very clear objective: find a cancer treatment that is effective, specific and above all safe. Something that can be really complex because of everything that cancer hides behind it, but science continues to give us good news. The last one comes from the University of Texas and the University of Porto which have developed a technique based on tin oxide nanoflakes (SnOx) and LEDs that allows cancer cells to be destroyed with precision. The current problem. The therapy par excellence today in the fight against cancer, without a doubt It’s chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The first of these has numerous problems that have been tried to be corrected, such as low specificity, that is, it attacks both cancer cells like the healthy ones. And this ultimately produces many side effects that can cause you to not continue with the treatment. This makes the goal of science to seek specificity and for the treatment to attack only cancer cells. This is something that is being tried to achieve with immunotherapy and techniques like CAR-T which ultimately is part of personalized medicine for each patient and which offers a very specific selection of the type of cell to destroy. But science has not stopped here. The discovery. One of the techniques that appears to be promising is photothermal therapy (PTT). The concept in this case is quite simple to understand: inject nanomaterials into a tumor and then heat them using light. This logically causes a localized increase in temperature, which selectively destroys the cancer cells that have been marked before. The problem until now was materials and light. Many photothermal therapies require high-powered lasers, which are expensive and can damage surrounding tissue. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Porto have found the key to changing the rules of the game. A secret ingredient. The team has developed a new photothermal agent called nanoflakes that are made of tin oxide. After all, they are tiny sheets with a thickness of less than 20 nanometers and what is really ingenious is how they were manufactured. The really ingenious thing is how they made them. They started from a cheap and abundant material such as tin disulfide, which ironically is useless for photothermal therapy. In this way, through a ‘green’ and scalable process called electrochemical exfoliation with oxidation, which only uses aqueous media, they managed to transform the inactive tin disulfide into tin oxide that was already ready to fight cancer. And the light came. Once this material was available, all that was left was to expose it to the LED irradiation low-cost that emit infrared light at 810 nm. In this case we are talking about radiation that is very safe and does not damage healthy skin as can occur with radiotherapy, and it is also extremely cheap and accessible to everyone (even developing countries). Results. To test the effectiveness, researchers have tested cells in culture. The first thing they saw was that this treatment had no effect on healthy cells, that is, it did not destroy them. But the best comes when applying it to cancer cells results in a great reduction in the different colonies. Specifically, in skin cancer there was a 92% reduction in the viability of tumor cells, while in colorectal cancer this percentage dropped to 50%, but still maintained good results. And all thanks to an increase in temperature from 37 °C to 50 °C in 30 minutes that killed cancer cells. The future. This study not only presents a more efficient material, but validates its use with safer and more economical light sources. The researchers themselves point to the potential of LED systems for applications such as skin cancer treatment, which could theoretically be self-administered at home. This would be a great advantage for patients and would reduce the burden on health systems, although there is still a lot of research ahead to see if this therapy can be viable in a range that will surely not be less than 10 years. Images | National Cancer Institute Logan Voss In Xataka | Colon cancers are increasing alarmingly among young people. We have a suspect: sedentary lifestyle

“Guided missiles” are revolutionizing cancer treatment. And they are already giving results

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Chemotherapy marked a great revolution in the treatment of different cancers despite its many problems in the nonspecificity of the ‘attack’ that caused healthy cells to also be affected by its effects. Although attempts have been made to increasingly specific chemotherapiesthe reality is that the next natural step in the evolution of the treatment It is immunotherapy, which is a field that continues to advance, giving us more and more joy in the fight against cancer. But there is a revolution that wants to go much further, and it is nothing more than taking all the good things that immunotherapy has with the high potency of chemotherapy. And this ‘cocktail’ has a name: immunoconjugates (ADC). The current problem. Traditional chemotherapies have been seen as a really aggressive treatment that generates a large number of side effects by attacking absolutely everything they encounter. This forces us to rethink the strategy. For this, it has been thought in immunotherapy Basically what it does is ‘wake up’ our natural defenses so that it can attack the tumor with its own tools. Something that It is personalized for each individual. by extracting, for example, their T lymphocytes to ‘reprogram’ them and make them fight against the tumor, which is nothing more than their own cells. But the next step requires this specificity with greater potency than the stimulated immune system can provide. And this forces us to look for new therapies that have a similar mechanism, although it goes further in the way of applying the drug to the target cells. And this is where we are in the fight against cancer. The goal of treatment. Precisely the future focuses on personalized treatments for each of the patients who have cancer in their body, without having to generalize with a drug for one type of tumor. This is achieved with treatments that are considered ‘remote-controlled missiles’ or ‘Trojan horses’ that promise greater specificity when attacking a tumor cell and leaving the body’s healthy cells ‘calm’. But always taking into account the particular characteristics of a person’s tumor. This is what is achieved with ADCs which are designed like a missile with lethal precision. Its mission is to deliver an explosive charge of chemotherapy into the tumor cell, largely ignoring healthy cells, and the results are promising in the early phases of research, demonstrating its great potential to cure more patients in the early stages. That’s how they work. The technology behind ADCs (Antibody-Drug Conjugates) is as elegant as it is powerful. It is made up of three key parts: The antibody that acts as the guidance system. A monoclonal antibody designed in a laboratory to search and fit like a key in a lock to specific proteins, a kind of “antennae” (receptors), which are found massively on the surface of tumor cells. And the point is that each tumor cell has different ‘antennas’ and that is why it is important to find the most suitable antibody. The payload, which we can assume is our ‘warhead’ which is a very powerful chemotherapy molecule and so toxic that it often cannot be administered in normal chemotherapy mode due to the large effects it has. So, here we are combining chemotherapy with immunotherapy. The linker. A mechanism that binds the antibody and the cargo so that it can travel ‘comfortably’ through the blood until it reaches its target tissue. The process is pure military strategy: the ADC travels through the body, the antibody detects its target (the cancer cell), anchors to it and the cell, deceived, absorbs it. Once inside, the linker breaks and releases the chemotherapy, annihilating the malignant cell from within and without affecting the ‘neighbors’. A before and after. At the congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO 2025) without a doubt this treatment has been on the lips of many experts. And it is logical seeing the good results that have been reported in this regard. You just have to see a recent study published in the prestigious magazine New England Journal of Medicine that confirms that this ADC such as trastuzumab deruxtecan is more effective than conventional chemotherapy in cases of metastatic HER2+ breast cancer, showing improvements from 7 to almost 10 months without tumor progression. Another treatment, sacituzumab govitecan, also has shown important results before him triple negative breast cancerwhich is one of the most aggressive and could have the worst prognosis. The result is also very promising: an improvement in survival and quality of life. The hidden side. Like all cutting-edge technology, ADCs are not without challenges. They are not harmless. One of the geniuses behind these studies, the Spanish Javier Cortés pointed out to the side effects that could occur, mainly diarrhea and lowered defense. This made him have to point out that “in general, Trojan horses give a toxicity that, in relation to traditional chemotherapy, is usually somewhat better.” But there is also another front ahead: in some patients with this treatment the tumor continues to grow. The investigation now focuses on understanding it: The tumor cell receptors may mutate and are not the appropriate target, the chemo release mechanism within the cell may fail, or the tumor may simply be resistant to that particular chemo. The future. What is being targeted right now is the possibility of mixing ADCs with immunotherapy or even combining several ADCs with each other. But where things get more interesting is the possibility of loading these ‘Trojan horses’ with radioligands, that is, rradioactive dioisotopes to apply radiotherapy very selective on cancer cells. In this way, a wide range of possibilities open up for the treatment of cancer. Images | Angiola Harry National Cancer Institute In Xataka | Colon cancers are increasing alarmingly among young people. We have a suspect: sedentary lifestyle

This is the new treatment approved in the USA

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Age usually takes its toll and presbyopia is one of the main factors responsible for it. Now a few drops can change this. Approved in the US. The drug regulatory agency in the United States, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), approved a few weeks ago A new treatment against presound. It is a solution for ophthalmic use, a few eye drops, aceclidin, which applied daily can help reduce the effects of this disorder for about ten hours. A degenerative disorder. The presbyopy is an ocular disorder associated with aging. Over time, our eyes gradually lose their ability to focus close objects, which hinders some of the tasks of our day to day, such as reading. The presbyopy It usually begins to demonstrate between the age of 40 and 45, although its progress usually touches the roof when we turn 65. Today there are different tools to fight the presbyce, which include the use of lenses or surgery. Acechlidin. The treatment is based on aceclidin, a compound that had already been proposed in ocular health In other contexts, such as the treatment of some types of glaucoma. The compound acts by contracting the Iris sphincter musclethe person in charge of contracting the pupil, and does so, according to the developers of the new treatment, with a “minimum” stimulation of the ciliary muscle, another eye muscle, is located outside the Iris. What the treatment is achieved is a stenopic effect by making the pupil contract below the two millimeters. This effect is the one that works wings cameras Pinhole Or Stenopic, which gives them a wide focal range, even losing sharpness as a consequence of diffraction. Clinical trials. According to They explain from Lenz Therapeuticsthe company responsible for the new treatment, the approval of the FDA comes after a series of clinical trials, controlled and randomized double -blind studies, the Clarity 1, 2 and 3 trials. Can we check it? For now the treatment is approved in the United States but not in the European Union. In fact, despite having been approved in the United States, the drug is not yet available in the North American country: the responsible pharmaceutical company has put October as the month of launching the new drug. In Xataka | Those spots on your eye when you look at a clear background are not bugs: they are shadows and destroy them is worse than ignoring them Image | Towfiqui Barbhuiya /

We have taken 60 years to discover that a key treatment against diabetes does not work as we thought

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The drugs may well be the substance that we study the most before getting the market: preclinical and clinical trials; experiments In vitroin animals and in people … everything to make sure the treatment is safe and works. But sometimes the question is another: because works. Because the answer can be so complex that we are late for decades to unravel it at all. Also in the brain. Something like that It has happened with metformina compound used for more than six decades in the treatment of diabetes: a new study has found that This drug It acts in our brain and not only in the liver as we believed before. The discovery opens the door to possible new therapeutic, more effective and precise pathways, in the treatment of diabetes. Rap1. The new study develops around Rap1 proteina protein that is usually found in the brain region known as ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). As the team observed in its analysis, metformin acts in this region “turn off” the rap1 function. Modified mice. To check it, the team administered a high fat diet, with which they emulated the effects of type 2 diabetes, to modified mice so that they did not have the rap1 protein in their VMH. Then they administered several types of drugs against diabetes: metformin, insulin and GLP-1 agonists (peptide similar to glucagon 1). When this protein disappeared, metformin ceased to be effective in reducing blood sugar while the other treatments continued to work. The team performed another test to demonstrate the key role of the brain in the functioning of metformin. For this they inject small amounts of the drug diréctorly into the brains of mice with diabetes. They were able to observe that, in doing their blood sugar levels, they decreased, even with “thousands of times smaller” doses of which they are usually administered orally. Combined action. The new study suggests that the biochemical mechanisms with which metformin acts in our body are more complex than we thought. Until now we knew that the drug acted on the liver and we also had evidence that the intestines also act. Now we not only have evidence that it acts on the brain, but it seems that in this context it responds to smaller doses than is required to act in the other areas of the body. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Science Advances. New treatments. The responsible team keeps the hope that the new discovery will contribute to the development of new treatments against diabetes, drugs that focus on this “path” of the brain. The effects of this drug go beyond the control of diabetes, the team recalls: it has also been linked to slower cerebral aging. Of course, it can also have adverse effects, although uncommon, one of the most serious is lactic acidosis, a serious and potentially deadly disease. In Xataka | This is the great hope of competition to replace Ozempic. Your weapon: banish needles with a pill Image | Sweet Life

Blanca Suárez uses Úrsula Corberó’s anti-aging treatment and works on the area of ​​the face that ages the most at home

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Blanca Suarezwho we will be able to see again on the big screen this spring with the premiere of The trace of evila film directed by Manuel Ríos San Martín, has always defended natural and unfiltered beauty. In fact, he posts frequently on his social networks. photos without makeup in which we see her boasting a radiant face. © Getty Images The actress take good care of your skin and shares some of her beauty secrets with her virtual followers. He especially likes masksyes. Combine its use at home with cabin beauty treatments to show off a face that is always young and free of imperfections. © ursulolita © blanca_suarez Blanca Suárez and Úrsula Corberó connected by the treatment that is in fashion “Living exomada”Blanca Suárez wrote on social networks after having acquired the doctor Lidia Maroñas, founder and medical director of Clínica Oneskinmed (located in the heart of the Chamberí neighborhood, in Madrid) a exosome treatment. Úrsula Corberó, like Kim Kardashian, Kourtney, Sofía Vergara and Sarah Hyland, also uses this to show off radiant skin. This regenerative therapy, based on the action of stem cells, improves skin in an incredible way: unifies spots, illuminates, combats expression wrinkles and firmness. This is explained by Elizabeth Álvarez, founder of Inout, the beauty center that Corberó chooses, precisely. Elizabeth tells us that It has been investigated since the 80s of the last century. at a regenerative level, but it is now when it is incorporated into skin aging procedures. Exosomes contain genetic material, proteins and growth factors, among other substances. They are capable of stimulate collagen and elastinhydrate, repair DNA damage, protect from oxidative stress, improve skin texture, reduce spots and treat dermatitis or psoriasis. Next to nothing! In Spain, to date, Only those of plant origin and topical origin are authorizedalthough it is expected that they can be injected in the near future. At the moment, on a topical level, they leave wonderful results and you just have to see it on the faces of Úrsula and Blanca. The second, furthermore, work on an important area of ​​the face at home that It is worth taking care of to show off an always young face.. © blanca_suarez The area of ​​the face that, like Blanca Suárez, you should work on Although also resort to clay and gel masksthe Madrid have recently worn a face veil that specifically affects the so-called nasolabial fold. We call the nasolabial fold the line that extends across the cheekbones, cheeks and around the mouth; a line that becomes accentuated with the passage of time. © blanca_suarez © blanca_suarez Dr. Carlos Gómez, a specialist in aesthetic medicine, assures that “we are used to referring to the nasolabial fold in general, but this unsightly problem is the sum of the appearance of three very marked lines: the nasolacrimal, nasolabial and labiomental or mental lines. puppet and that they are a product of facial sagging process that happens over the years, as well as the bone and fat loss in the cheekbone area“. Therefore, although Using the so-called nasolabial patches like those from Blanca Suárez can help you a lot, it is essential to also work the cheekbones. In this sense, the doctor is clear: “Anatomically, The nasolabial fold is formed as a result of loss of bone and fat structure of the entire cheekbone regiontherefore, returning the lost volume to that structure and stimulating again the collagen and elastin formation allows us to reverse the nasolabial fold from the origin and the rest signs of aging tensing upwards”. © Getty Images How can we prevent it from being marked more? To work the cheekbones, we can not only resort to hyaluronic acid in aesthetic medicine, allowing ourselves to be advised by professionals, but we can also use other methods such as yoga and facial gymnastics. The facial gym firm Work Your Face offers its own method based on manual massages, called Workouts, aimed at train facial muscles in the same way that pursues fitness body, working each muscle correctly and in depth until it is strengthened. A few more minutes of reinforcement can be added to these workouts depending on each case, either due to skin needs or to work on specific areas such as the neck, shoulders or neckline, or the nasolabial fold. © Getty Images The best solution and some recommended products It must be taken into account that, as stated by Dr. Guillermo Llopis, from Clínica Ferraro, “there is no conclusive scientific evidence that supports the benefits of facial yoga to define the face.” Yes they can help us tone certain muscles But we will perceive the real difference when we work on all levels: bone, muscle and skin. “As There are many factors that influence agingwe work on different levels, both the bone, the superficial fatty compartments and the outermost part of the skin,” explains Dr. Llopis. As always, the best thing is a 360 approach and keep in mind that the foundation on which doctors and experts work is laid by oneself. That is why physical exercise to maintain good bone and muscle health, as well as diet, home treatments and a good self-care routine, are crucial. According to pharmacist Marta Munar, from G19, active ingredients such as retinol, glycolic acid or peptides are capable of inducing the synthesis of collagen and elastin and to combat the results of its degradation. Others like him hyaluronic acid They are capable of retaining water to fill wrinkles and reduce expression lines. He also tells us that the vitamin C It acts preventively due to its antioxidant action that stops the degradation of the two supporting proteins. In line with this, we show you some products that can help you. Signing laugh line mask, by Croma The Croma firming mask for expression lines is enriched with hyaluronic acid to intensely hydrate and soothe the skin of the nasolabial folds. Carefully selected ingredients include palmitoyl hexapeptide, a biomimetic peptide that provides a firming effect and smoothes … Read more

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