Scientists are attempting to switch off these receptors with a view to waking the cancer cells up from sleep—making them vulnerable to attack.

Light restricts impact to tumor

The problem is that every cell in our body has glucocorticoid receptors, which perform important functions—including reducing inflammation and supporting the immune system. Eliminating all these receptors throughout the body would have disastrous side effects, so there is a need for a highly specific method that destroys only the glucocorticoid receptors of tumor cells.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have now found a solution by developing a system that induces the destruction of these receptors. Light can be used to selectively neutralize the system’s effect on surrounding healthy tissue so that the impact is limited to the tumor. The paper is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.