The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 17, 1992
Filed:
Dec. 28, 1990
N Charle Morcos, Irvine, CA (US);
Walter L Henry, So. Laguna, CA (US);
The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, CA (US);
Abstract
A photochemical method is described for treating cancer wherein phycocyanin is administered to a patient suffering from internal or skin cancer. Once administered, phycocyanin is selectively taken up into cancer cells, and upon subsequent irradiation destruction of the cancer cells occurs. Phycocyanin offers several advantages over prior art chemicals used for similar purposes. First, it is only marginally sensitive to the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum; consequently patients can be irradiated without concern that they will be sensitized to subsequent exposure to sunlight. Second, phycocyanin is selectively taken up into cancer cells with little or no uptake by surrounding normal cells. This ensures that upon subsequent irradiation that the tumors are selectively destroyed with little or no damage to the surrounding cells or tissue. A variety of different types of cancer cells can be effectively treated by this method; treatments of breast cancer, leukemia and murine tumors are described.