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A research group led by Project Associate Associate Professor Yamashita of Advanced Comprehensive Research Organization has developed AI-designed next-generation stealth materials and ultra-thin rigid endoscopes, opening up new possibilities for photothermal cancer treatment.

Photothermal therapy, which uses near-infrared lasers to destroy cancer cells with heat, is expected to be a next-generation cancer treatment that places less burden on the body compared to surgery and radiation therapy. However, challenges have been that the nanoparticles that carry the therapeutic drug are eliminated by immune cells, making it difficult for them to reach the tumor, and that laser irradiation from outside the body cannot deliver sufficient heat to deep tumors.

A research group led by Associate Associate Professor Hiromasa Yamashita of Advanced Comprehensive Research Organization at Teikyo University has solved these two problems simultaneously through collaborative research. By coating nanoparticles with an artificial protein "IDP1" designed using the protein structure prediction AI "AlphaFold," they increased its accumulation in tumors. They also developed a contact-type laser irradiation system using an ultra-thin rigid endoscope that can be inserted into an injection needle, achieving a high heating effect with low power. In a mouse colorectal cancer model, they confirmed tumor disappearance and long-term suppression of recurrence after a single treatment.

The results of this research were published in the nanoscience and materials science journal Small Science on July 14, 2026.

The press release is available here.
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