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Scientists from the University of Edinburgh have created a SeNBD molecule that cancer cells eat without realizing that it is toxic to them. The drug known as the “Trojan horse” is intended to “mislead the tumor” and destroy it from within. A successful drug test gives hope at the end of chemotherapy.
- Edinburgh-based researchers tested new drug that can kill cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue
- Researchers noted that feeding cancer with harmful molecules is more beneficial to the patient’s health than ‘starving the cancer’
- Although more research is needed, scientists expect that applying the method to humans may increase survival and avoid the use of chemotherapy
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
“Trojan horse”. The insidiously fed cancer becomes trapped
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh combined a small, cancer-killing molecule called SeNBD with chemical food to induce cancer cells to eat it. Scientists compared the drug to the “Trojan Horse”. They fed it to the cancer cells without damaging the surrounding tissue. Dr. Sam Benson, one of the researchers, emphasizes that the drug is delivered through the “front door of the cell” and there is no need to find a way to break through the cancer cell’s defenses.
Light-activated cancer drug
SeNBD is also a photosensitizer, meaning it kills cells when activated with light.
‘This research represents an important advance in the design of new light-activated therapies that are generally very safe,’ emphasizes Professor Marc Vendrell, head of research in Edinburgh. Scientists hope to increase the survival rate of patients and the possibility of avoiding chemotherapy.
Currently, chemotherapy is one of the most effective methods of treating neoplastic diseases. Patients are given cytostatic drugs that destroy cancer cells. Unfortunately, they can also damage healthy cells.
Most often, chemotherapy is carried out in cycles. Medicines can be taken orally, administered intravenously or into the body cavities.
Chemotherapy has a number of side effects. The most common ones are nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, fatigue, weakness, hair loss.
Treatment of tumors. More research needed
The study was conducted on fish cells called zebrafish and human cells, but the researchers said further testing is needed to confirm the safety of the method.
This is not the first “Trojan Horse” in cancer research. Scientists have been trying to use the method of using “trickery” in feeding tumors for a long time. Researchers from Singapore have created a “Trojan horse” in the form of a nanoparticle that enters cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct. Research is ongoing.
- Nanoparticles, or the “Trojan horse”, that kills cancer cells without drugs
The reference to the legend of the Trojan horse is not accidental. This is a story in Greek mythology about the warriors who built a huge wooden horse. Then they hid inside and gave the horse as a gift to the Trojan at the end of the war. In this way, the Greeks, by trickery, got behind the city gate of Troy, where they jumped out of the horse and conquered the city.
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