Rice University scientists discovered a novel way to fight cancer by using what they call “molecular jackhammers,” molecules vibrating when they are catalyzed by light.

The 2023 study, published in Nature, reported that a “50% tumor-free efficacy in mouse models for melanoma was achieved.”

“The method had a 99 percent efficiency against lab cultures of human melanoma cells, and half of the mice with melanoma tumors became cancer-free after treatment,” Rice University stated, then explained:

The researchers found that the atoms of a small dye molecule used for medical imaging, called an aminocyanine molecule, can vibrate in unison ⎯ forming what is known as a plasmon ⎯ when stimulated by near-infrared light , causing the cell membrane of cancerous cells to rupture.

“It is a whole new generation of molecular machines that we call molecular jackhammers,” Rice chemist Jems Tour exclaimed.  “They are more than one million times faster in their mechanical motion than the former Feringa-type motors, and they can be activated with near-infrared light rather than visible light.”

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Tour further explained that near-infrared light is far more successful at entering the body than visible light, and thus does not damage tissue as severely.

“Near-infrared light can go as deep as 10 centimeters (~ 4 inches) into the human body as opposed to only half a centimeter (~ 0.2 inches), the depth of penetration for visible light, which we used to activate the nanodrills,” he said. “It is a huge advance.”

“These molecules are simple dyes that people have been using for a long time,” lead author Ciceron Ayala-Orozco said. “They’re biocompatible, stable in water and very good at attaching themselves to the fatty outer lining of cells. But even though they were being used for imaging, people did not know how to activate these as plasmons.”

“Due to their structure and chemical properties, the nuclei of these molecules can oscillate in sync when exposed to the right stimulus,” he continued. “This is the first time a molecular plasmon is utilized in this way to excite the whole molecule and to actually produce mechanical action used to achieve a particular goal ⎯ in this case, tearing apart cancer cells’ membrane.”