Weird Oncological Science

A couple of Israeli scientists have come up with an approach to cure prostate cancer, and perhaps other forms of the disease. The approach, using modified chlorophyll, laser light and oxygen, is still undergoing clinical trials. See the report at the Weizmann Institute newsletter:

The first crucial element of the treatment is chlorophyll, the pigment that allows plants to utilize light for carbohydrate synthesis. However, the chlorophyll used to create this photosensitized drug therapy is not the common green chlorophyll, but instead bacteriochlorophyll, found in aquatic bacteria, that was chemically modified by Prof. Scherz's lab at Weizmann to fit the team's pharmaceutical needs. Once the photosensitized drug is injected, it meets up with the second crucial element in this therapy—light—at the targeted tumor site. The light comes from highly focused fiber-optic lasers that have been inserted near the tumor. As the chlorophyll absorbs the light, it can then interact with the third component in the process—oxygen—to produce oxygen radicals. This interaction initiates a fast cascade of pathophysiological events that cause instantaneous closing of the blood vessels leading to the tumor, followed by oxygen and nutrient deprivation at the tumor site, as well as other active processes that kill tumor cells. In 24 to 48 hours, the tumor undergoes complete necrosis. 

As Instapundit Glenn Reynolds often writes, faster please.