Professor Colin Self and Stephen Thompson of Newcastle University created a procedure that allows antibodies to be activated by UV-A light and then targets them to a specific area of the body just by shining a probe at the relevant part.

The procedure, said the researchers, maximizes the destruction of the tumor while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

"I would describe this development as the equivalent of ultra-specific magic bullets," Self said. "This could mean that a patient coming in for treatment of bladder cancer would receive an injection of the cloaked antibodies. She would sit in the waiting room for an hour and then come back in for treatment by light.

"Just a few minutes of the light therapy directed at the region of the tumor would activate the T-cells, causing her body's own immune system to attack the tumor."

The details of the new technology are presented in two papers in the current issue of the journal ChemMedChem.