PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Cancer drug 49 times more potent than Cisplatin

2015-07-07
(Press-News.org) Effectiveness shown in tests on ovarian and bowel cancer Drug can shut down a cancer cell's metabolism Developed by researchers at the University of Warwick's Warwick Cancer Research Centre Tests conducted by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute's Cancer Genome Project New drug could be cheaper to produce and less harmful to healthy cells

Tests have shown that a new cancer drug, FY26, is 49 times more potent than the clinically used treatment Cisplatin.

Based on a compound of the rare precious metal osmium and developed by researchers at the University of Warwick's Department of Chemistry and the Warwick Cancer Research Unit, FY26 is able to shut down a cancer cell by exploiting weaknesses inherent in their energy generation.

The researchers argue that the drug could be cheaper to produce, less harmful to healthy cells than existing treatments and has been shown to be active against cancer cells which have become resistant to platinum-based drugs.

The experiments conducted by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute comprising 809 cancer cell lines found that FY26 was 49 times more potent than cisplatin. Similar results were obtained by the National Cancer Institute USA in tests conducted on 60 cell lines.

The new drug works by forcing cancer cells to use their mitochondria, the 'power house' of a cell, to generate the energy necessary to function. Whilst healthy cells use mitochondria to generate energy, cancer cells contain defective mitochondria which are incapable of sustaining the cell's energy requirements.

In the absence of FY26, cancer cells switch from using their defective mitochondria to using metabolic activity in their cytoplasm to generate energy. By stopping this switch of energy source, the drug causes the cancer cell to die.

Lead researcher Professor Peter Sadler, of the University of Warwick's Department of Chemistry, said explains:

"Healthy cells generate their energy in organelles called mitochondria, but cancer cells have defective mitochondria and are forced to generate energy through glycolysis in the cytoplasm. Our new compounds work by attacking the energy balance in cancer cells".

Commenting on the drug's benefits when compared to existing platinum-based drugs, such as Cisplatin, Professor Sadler says:

"Platinum-based drugs are used in nearly 50% of all chemotherapeutic regimens and exert their activity by damaging DNA and cannot select between cancerous and non-cancerous cells. This can lead to a wide-range of side-effects from renal failure to neurotoxicity, ototoxicity, nausea and vomiting."

"Existing platinum-based cancer treatments often become less effective after the first course, as cancer cells learn how they are being attacked, but our new osmium compound with its different mechanism of action, remains active against cancer cells that have become resistant to drugs such as Cisplatin".

The research could also lead to substantial improvements in cancer survival rates, suggests co-researcher Dr Isolda Romero-Canelon: "Current statistics indicate that one in every two people will develop some kind of cancer during their life time, with approximately one woman dying of ovarian cancer every two hours in the UK according to Cancer Research UK and two deaths every hour from bowel cancer.

"It is clear that a new generation of drugs is necessary to save more lives and our research points to a highly effective way of defeating cancerous cells".

The research, supported by the European Research Council and titled Potent organo-osmium compound shifts metabolism in epithelial ovarian cancer cells, is published by PNAS. The paper describes the comprehensive systems biology approach used to elucidate the mechanism of osmium action of FY26, led by PhD student Jess Hearn.

Importantly this analysis also pinpointed 3 mutations in the mitochondrial DNA of ovarian cancer cells.

Following the successful test results the researchers have been awarded a Wellcome Trust Pathfinder grant to begin preclinical development of organo-osmium compounds.

INFORMATION:

Notes: The researchers thank the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Grant 324594, Systems Biology studentship for J.M.H.), the European Research Council (Grants 247450 and 324594), and the Wellcome Trust (Grants 086357 and 102696) for support, as well as the European Union COST Action CM1105.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Experts call for more understanding of hospital weekend death risk

2015-07-07
Professor Richard Lilford and Dr Yen-Fu Chen of the University's Warwick Medical School, raised the issue following a study that states hospital weekend death risk is common in several developed countries - not just England Professor Lilford, said: "Understanding this is an extremely important task since it is large, at about 10% in relative risk terms and 0.4% in percentage point terms. This amounts to about 160 additional deaths in a hospital with 40,000 discharges per year. "But how much of the observed increase results from service failure? And here is the rub, ...

Down to the quantum dot

Down to the quantum dot
2015-07-07
This news release is available in German. Jülich, 7 July - Using a single molecule as a sensor, scientists in Jülich have successfully imaged electric potential fields with unrivalled precision. The ultrahigh-resolution images provide information on the distribution of charges in the electron shells of single molecules and even atoms. The 3D technique is also contact-free. The first results achieved using "scanning quantum dot microscopy" have been published in the current issue of Physical Review Letters. The related publication was chosen as ...

Smartphones may be detrimental to learning process

2015-07-07
A yearlong study of first-time smartphone users by researchers at Rice University and the U.S. Air Force found that users felt smartphones were actually detrimental to their ability to learn. The research paper "You Can Lead a Horse to Water But You Cannot Make Him Learn: Smartphone Use in Higher Education" appeared in a recent edition of the British Journal of Educational Technology. The research reveals the self-rated impact of smartphones among the users. "Smartphone technology is penetrating world markets and becoming abundant in most college settings," said Philip ...

A key role for CEP63 in brain development and fertility discovered

A key role for CEP63 in brain development and fertility discovered
2015-07-07
Today in Nature Communications, scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) provide molecular details about Seckel Syndrome, a rare disease that causes microcephaly, or small brain, and growth delays. A joint study conducted by Travis Stracker and Jens Lüders indicates that the protein CEP63 plays a key role during brain development as it is involved in the correct division of stem cells in this organ. Furthermore, the researchers have discovered that CEP63 is associated with sperm production--an unknown function until now. Rescuing microcephaly ...

Timber and construction, a well-matched couple

2015-07-07
This news release is available in Spanish. Mikel Zubizarreta, a member of the UPV/EHU's IT 781-13 group, highlights the advantages of timber in building works: "Although it is not as tough as other materials used in structures, it is a better insulator, in other words, it is more energy-efficient and less dense so the structure weighs less. On the other hand, timber is a renewable material -trees are planted and grown and forests are a CO2 sink- and is abundant in the Basque Country (nearly 55% of its surface area consists of forests)." Yet timber is used much less ...

Serious adverse events rare in healthy volunteers participating in Phase I drug trials

2015-07-07
PHILADELPHIA - Many people believe that phase I trials with healthy volunteers are very risky and because they pose risks with no benefits, unethical. But how risky are such trials? Less than 1% of 11,000 healthy volunteers who participated in 394 phase I trials for new drugs experienced serious complications, according to a new meta-analysis of participants in non-cancer, phase I medication trials. In addition, none of the volunteers died or suffered persistent disabilities linked to the experimental drugs. In the largest study of its kind, researchers found only 34 (0.31%) ...

C. difficile needs iron, but not too much: Insights into maintaining it 'just right'

2015-07-07
Washington, D.C. - July 6, 2015 - Those bacteria that require iron walk a tightrope. Iron is essential for their growth, but too much iron can damage DNA and enzymes through oxidation. Therefore, bacteria have machinery to maintain their intracellular iron within a range that is healthy for them. Now Theresa D. Ho, PhD, and Craig D. Ellermeier, PhD shed new light on how the pathogen, Clostridium difficile, which is the most common cause of hospital-acquired infectious diarrhea, regulates iron. The research is published online ahead of print July 6 in the Journal of Bacteriology, ...

Study identifies characteristic EEG pattern of high-dose nitrous oxide anesthesia

2015-07-07
While nitrous oxide gas has been used recreationally and medically for more than 200 years - originally for its euphoric and then for its pain relieving and anesthetic properties - the mechanism behind its effects on the brain has been poorly understood. A report from investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) finds that the EEG patterns of patients receiving high doses of nitrous oxide differ significantly from those of the same patients when they had received ether-based inhaled anesthetics earlier in the procedures, findings that - along with suggesting how ...

This town has been on fire for 50 years (video)

This town has been on fire for 50 years (video)
2015-07-07
WASHINGTON, July 7, 2015 - In 1962, an underground fire started in the coal-mining town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. Fifty-three years later, that fire still burns. In this week's episode of Reactions, we explain the history and science behind the Centralia mine fire. Does anyone still live there? How could the fire keep burning for so long, and why hasn't it been extinguished? From a chemical standpoint, what is fire, anyway? It's all answered in our latest video: https://youtu.be/fsgqy5FYP2c.INFORMATION: Subscribe to the series at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions, and follow ...

Aspirin may delay growth of asbestos-related cancer

2015-07-07
HONOLULU - Aspirin may inhibit the growth of mesothelioma, an aggressive and deadly asbestos-related cancer, University of Hawai'i Cancer Center researchers have found. The finding could eventually give doctors and patients a potential new tool to fight against this devastating disease, which kills about 3,200 people a year nationwide, and advance knowledge of how to fight other cancers. The study published in Cell Death and Disease showed that aspirin slows down the growth of mesothelioma by blocking the carcinogenic effects of the inflammatory molecule, High-Mobility ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Modesty and boastfulness – perception depends on usual performance

Do sweeteners increase your appetite? New evidence from randomised controlled trial says no 

Women with obesity do not need to gain weight during pregnancy, new study suggests

Individuals with multiple sclerosis face substantially greater risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19, despite high rates of vaccination

Study shows obesity in childhood associated with a more than doubling of risk of developing multiple sclerosis in early adulthood

Rice Emerging Scholars Program receives $2.5M NSF grant to boost STEM education

Virtual rehabilitation provides benefits for stroke recovery

Generative AI develops potential new drugs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Biofuels could help island nations survive a global catastrophe, study suggests

NJIT research team discovering how fluids behave in nanopores with NSF grant

New study shows association of historical housing discrimination and shortfalls in colon cancer treatment

Social media use may help to empower plastic surgery patients

Q&A: How to train AI when you don't have enough data

Wayne State University researchers uncover potential treatment targets for Zika virus-related eye abnormalities

Discovering Van Gogh in the wild: scientists unveil a new gecko species

Small birds spice up the already diverse diet of spotted hyenas in Namibia

Imaging detects transient “hypoxic pockets” in the mouse brain

Dissolved organic matter could be used to track and improve the health of freshwaters

Indoor air quality standards in public buildings would boost health and economy, say international experts

Positive associations between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

New imaging method illuminates oxygen's journey in the brain

Researchers discover key gene for toxic alkaloid in barley

New approach to monitoring freshwater quality can identify sources of pollution, and predict their effects

Bidirectional link between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

Cell division quality control ‘stopwatch’ uncovered

Vaccine protects cattle from bovine tuberculosis, may eliminate disease

Andrew Siemion to receive the SETI Institute’s 2024 Drake Award

New study shows how the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus enters our cells

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy proves effective for locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma

Study flips treatment paradigm in bilateral Wilms tumor, shows resistance to chemotherapy may point toward favorable outcomes

[Press-News.org] Cancer drug 49 times more potent than Cisplatin