Uni of Warwick scientist find potential way to cut cancer treatment side-effects
They've been studying a metal that could be used
Uni of Warwick scientists say they've potentially found a way to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment.
They've been looking at a metal called Osmium and how it reacts in a single lung cancer cell.
They think it could be better to use and have fewer side effect than platinum, which is currently used in nearly half of chemotherapies.
They've publsihed a paper, called ‘Tracking Reactions of Asymmetric Organo-Osmium Transfer Hydrogenation Catalysts in Cancer Cells’.
Professor Peter Sadler, from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick comments:
“With one in two people getting cancer in their lifetime, the need to find new drugs has never been more urgent. Part of drug discovery is seeing exactly how they react and work in cells.
“Osmium is a rare precious metal, however, since it can act as a catalyst, a very little amount is needed for reactions in the cancer cell, therefore it could be a sustainable treatment going forward.
"We wanted to see how exactly it worked in a single cancer cell, which involved a variety of novel techniques, including taking water molecules out of the cell and rapidly flash-freezing it.
"Whereas usually cells are chemically altered to see the reactions, in our method they are close to their natural state, making our results more authentic.”
Dr Elizabeth Bolitho, from the Department of Chemistry and Diamond adds:
“We worked 24 hours a day, 5 days a week to collect these exciting data, allowing us to see inside cancer cells to a nanoscale resolution.
"This has provided crucial insights into potential cellular targets of such Osmium catalysts.
“Not only were we able to track the Osmium in a lung cancer cell, but more widely in breast cancer, ovarian and prostate cancer cells, for example, which provides hope that in the future Osmium could be used to treat a range of different cancers.”
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