SLC7A5 and cancer: In another independent study, catechol-containing SLC7A5 ligands L- and D-dopa were combined with multibranched gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to mediate selective photothermal ablation of breast cancer cell lines, making the cancer cells more sensitive to the chemotherapy drugs cisplatin and docetaxel (Ong et al., 2017).