Blue Light for Controlled Drug Release

Scientists at Imperial College London and LMU Munich have created a drug for type 2 diabetes that is switched on by blue light; they hope this will improve patients’ control over dosing patterns thus reducing possible side effects from less flexible therapy administration.

They adapted an existing type sulfonylurea drug so that it changes shape when exposed to blue light. Inactive under normal conditions the patient in theory could theoretically control dosing by switching it on using blue LEDs stuck to the skin. Only a small amount of light would need to penetrate the skin to change the drug's shape and turn it on. This change is reversible, so the drug switches off again when the light goes off.

The researchers demonstrated* that the prototype drug, known as JB253, stimulates insulin release from pancreatic cells in the lab when exposed to blue light.

The study was led by Dr David Hodson and Professor Guy Rutter from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, and Professor Dirk Trauner and Dr Johannes Broichhagen at LMU Munich.

Dr Hodson said: "In principle, this type of therapy may allow better control over blood sugar levels because it can be switched on for a short time when required after a meal. It should also reduce complications by targeting drug activity to where it's needed in the pancreas So far, we've created a molecule that has the desired effect on human pancreatic cells in the lab. There's a long way to go before a therapy is available to patients, but this remains our ultimate goal."

“Photoswitchable drugs and photopharmacology could be enormously useful for all sorts of diseases, by allowing remote control over specific body processes with light," said Professor Trauner.

The research was funded by Diabetes UK, the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, the European Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council.