Glasgow team develop breakthrough in bowel cancer treatment

Engineers and cancer scientists from the University of Glasgow have developed an implantable device aimed at improving the delivery of light-sensitive drugs for photodynamic therapy.

The small, disc-shaped device uses wirelessly powered micro-LEDs to deliver targeted light therapy directly to tumours.

It was developed by a team led by Professor David Flynn and is designed to make photodynamic therapy less invasive and more effective.

Dr Rolan Mansour of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering said: "In the developed nations, one in three people is expected to develop a form of cancer during their lifetime.

"Today, bladder cancers cause 16 deaths a day in the UK alone, according to figures from Cancer Research UK.

“However, bladder cancer, like many others, is potentially curable if it is diagnosed and treated early, before metastatic spread or invasion into adjacent organs.

"Given that photodynamic therapy has the potential for less side effects and could improve cancer treatment outcomes, our work is focused on improving its effectiveness by delivering light where it’s most needed, to the photosensitisers which tackle and kill cancer cells."

Photodynamic therapy relies on the activation of photosensitising drugs using light to destroy cancer cells.

While commonly used for skin cancer, the treatment is less effective for tumours located deeper within the body due to the natural light-absorbing properties of human tissue.

As a result, current methods often involve invasive procedures and large, external light sources.

The new device is flexible and compact enough to be implanted next to tumours, allowing for more direct treatment with reduced invasiveness.

In a study published in the journal Opto-Electronic Advances, the researchers explained how the 40mm-wide device was created using laser-based fabrication techniques at the university’s James Watt Nanofabrication Centre.

The device features four micro-LEDs mounted on a flexible, biocompatible polymer called Parylene C and is powered wirelessly through resonant inductive coupling.

The LEDs are capable of delivering optical outputs in excess of five megawatts.

Lab tests using tissue-like materials demonstrated that the device could transmit light efficiently through synthetic tissue up to 50mm thick.

Further experiments using a photosensitiser solution confirmed the generation of singlet oxygen, a reactive molecule crucial for cancer cell destruction.

The results indicate the device’s potential to support photodynamic therapy as an implantable system.

Professor Flynn, lead of the EPSRC PATIENT project, said: "These are very encouraging results, which demonstrate how flexible bioelectronics, wireless power delivery and photonics can be combined to create advanced, minimally invasive treatments, which could improve the clinical outcomes of photodynamic therapies.

“The cost-effective fabrication processes we used in this new technology also have the potential to deliver a scalable and affordable future treatment pathway which can be used in combination with other therapies.

"Although there is still significant further experimental work to be done before the system is ready to be used directly in patient treatments, the results represent a significant step toward next-generation wireless cancer therapies and implantable photonic medical devices."

LED prototype device (Image: Supplied)

The device already has received industry recognition.

In 2024, the team was awarded the Health Technology Award at the IET Excellence and Innovation Awards.

The project was a collaboration with researchers from Edinburgh Instruments Ltd and was funded by UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Their full findings are detailed in the team's paper: A Flexible Wireless System for Prospective Photodynamic Therapy Applications,' published in Opto-Electronic Advances.