Mice with multiple myeloma were treated using this strategy once a week for four weeks. In the weeks following, the treated mice had significantly smaller tumors and survived longer than the control mice. Fifty percent of treated mice survived at least 90 days. Of the control mice, 50 percent survived 62 days. The mice with breast cancer also showed an anti-tumor effect when treated using this strategy, though less pronounced than in those with multiple myeloma, likely due to the extreme aggressiveness of the breast cancer cell line, according to the researchers. The investigators also found that certain types of multiple myeloma surprisingly were resistant to this technique. They determined that the resistant multiple myeloma cells lacked the surface proteins used to target the titanocene-loaded nanoparticles.

“This is an opportunity to learn because it’s similar to what is seen in patients — some of the cells become dormant but don’t die after treatment,” Achilefu said. “When we looked closer at the cells that were resistant to our phototherapy, we saw that the surface protein we are targeting was not there. So next, we want to find out if we can pinpoint another surface protein to target and kill these resistant cells along with the myeloma cells that did respond to the original therapy, which could lead to complete remission.”


Achilefu envisions doctors being able to one day use this type of technology to prevent cancer from recurring.

“We are interested in exploring whether this is something a patient in remission could take once a year for prevention,” Achilefu said. “The toxicity appears to be low, so we imagine an outpatient procedure that could involve zapping any cancerous cells, making cancer a chronic condition that could be controlled long-term.”

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant numbers U54CA199092, R01 EB008111, R01 CA194552, R01 CA152329 and P50 CA094056; the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, grant number W81XWH-16-1-0286; and the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Research Fund, grant number 11-FY16-01.

Kotagiri N, Cooper ML, Rettig M, Egbulefu C, Prior J, Cui G, Karmakar P, Zhou M, Yang X, Sudlow G, Marsala L, Chanswangphuwana C, Lu L, Habimana-Griffin L, Shokeen M, Xu X, Weilbaecher K, Tomasson M, Lanza G, DiPersio JF, and Achilefu S. Radionuclides transform chemotherapeutics into phototherapeutics for precise treatment of disseminated cancer. Nature Communications 9, 275 (2018).

Washington University School of Medicine‘s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient-care institutions in the nation, currently ranked seventh in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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