4 Gold Molecules Point To The Future Of Cancer Treatment
Umer Jamshaid Published September 22, 2019 | 12:48 PM
ISLAMABAD (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd September, 2019) Newly engineered gold based molecules look to be safer and more effective at fighting cancer than prominent platinum based therapies.For the past few decades, platinum based cisplatin has been a compound of choice in the treatment of many cancers.It is especially effective at halting testicular cancer, with a success rate of more than 90%.However, the usefulness of cisplatin and other metal based cancer drugs has been limited due to their toxicity, their resistance to other drugs in a person's system, and a lack of long term stability.Metallic compounds as medicinePeople have known about the therapeutic benefits of metal for thousands of years.Metals, after all, are naturally occurring elements involved in a range of cellular activities, and they are compatible with the human body at least up to a point.
Establishing the optimal safe dosage has been challenging.Nonetheless, the ancient Egyptians and Chinese (among others) successfully used gold and copper to treat syphilis. Likewise, physicians of classical Greece dispensed cinnabar (mercury sulfide) to treat eye disease, trachoma, and other conditions.
In the mid-1960s, researcher Barnett Rosenberg was conducting experiments with Escherichia coli bacteria when he discovered that powering up his platinum electrodes which he ironically selected for their presumed inertness caused cell division in his samples to abruptly stop.The 4 new moleculesThe team that engineered the new molecules RMIT's Molecular Engineering Group brings together synthetic chemists and pharmacologists who share decades of experience at developing gold molecules for specific uses.In this case, the researchers designed molecules that would narrowly target cancer cells without harming healthy cells.Their molecules would also inhibit the production of thioredoxin reductase, an enzyme associated with both cancer growth and drug resistance.In addition, the molecules have anti-inflammatory properties useful for relieving the swelling often present at tumor sites.
This capability may also suggest a role for the molecules in the development of future arthritis therapies.
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