# Cancer cell-selective in vivo near infrared photoimmunotherapy targeting specific membrane molecules

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-mitsunaga-nat-med/  
OnCo record `paper-mitsunaga-nat-med` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Paper cited by one idea page, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 22057348 and published in Nature Medicine; the citing page links this DOI, which is how the record was matched.

## Summary

Three major modes of cancer therapy (surgery, radiation and chemotherapy) are the mainstay of modern oncologic therapy. To minimize the side effects of these therapies, molecular-targeted cancer therapies, including armed antibody therapy, have been developed with limited success. In this study, we have developed a new type of molecular-targeted cancer therapy, photoimmunotherapy (PIT), that uses a target-specific photosensitizer based on a near-infrared (NIR) phthalocyanine dye, IR700, conjugated to monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting epidermal growth factor receptors. Cell death was induced immediately after irradiating mAb-IR700-bound target cells with NIR light. We observed in vivo tumor shrinkage after irradiation with NIR light in target cells expressing the epidermal growth factor receptor. The mAb-IR700 conjugates were most effective when bound to the cell membrane and produced no phototoxicity when not bound, suggesting a different mechanism for PIT as compared to conventional photodynamic therapies. Target-selective PIT enables treatment of cancer based on mAb binding to the cell membrane.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 22057348 (DOI 10.1038/nm.2554). Matched by DOI alone: one idea page cites this DOI among its external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Nature Medicine
- Year: 2011
- DOI: 10.1038/nm.2554
- Authors: Mitsunaga M, Ogawa M, Kosaka N, et al.
- What it means: One idea page on OnCo cites this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing page listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Caveats: Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.

## Sources

- Nat Med 2011: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2554
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22057348/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/22057348

## Connected records

- ideas: [Photoimmunotherapy as an in situ vaccine with PD-1 blockade](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-photoimmunotherapy-plus-pd1/)
- journals: [Nature Medicine](https://onco.cc/journals/nature-medicine/)

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