Study: Using Light to Help Kill Cancer Cells

A paper by K.M. Freitag et al titled “Light-controlled disruption of cancer cell dormancy via photoswitchable stress hormone receptor degraders” published on 21 May 2026 discusses the potential to use light to help target cancer cells.

The paper is about 11 pages long and, not surprisingly, the researchers are Swiss.

The problem is that the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) “induces a reversible, drug-tolerant dormancy state in cancer cells”. One could destroy these GRs by sending in Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs), which tag the targets. Unfortunately, PROTACs are constantly active and one cannot just target all the GRs in the body because they perform important functions like managing inflammation.

Therefore, the researchers tested the idea of having “photoswitchable” PROTACs or “photoPROTACs”. This allows one to activate and deactivate photoPROTACs at the time and place of one’s choosing; in other words, the flexibility to target cancer cells whilst leaving others alone.

Of course, there is the practical issue of getting light inside the body. For example, if using shorter wavelengths, then its limited penetrative power cannot reach cancer cells that are deeper in the body.

However one looks at it, it is a cool idea.

Figure 1: Design and characterization of photoswitchable PROTACs (photoPROTACs) targeting GR.

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