Scientists have discovered a new compound that could be more successful in treating particular cancers than conventional chemotherapy.
Although chemotherapy is the first defense for most cancer tumors and highly effective, many cancers develop resistance or are naturally resistance.
The scientists from the University of Sheffield, departments of Biomedical Science and Chemistry teamed up to single out new drug-candidates that would work against the resistant cancer.
In a new study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers investigated new compounds made in the lab against the resistant cancer.
The new compounds were also tested with nonmalignant cells to see their negative effect to normal cells.
The results found revealed that two lead compounds that were highly active against cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy and less harmful to normal cells.
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According to Professor Jim Thomas from the University of Sheffield, “we have identified a compound that kills cancer cells that avoids need for apoptosis, the usual resistance mechanism does not work against our new compound.”
The compound is thought to be more effective against ovarian cancer.
“The compound is as effective as common current chemotherapeutic, but it retains its force against treatment-resistant cancers. We have discovered that the new drug works by two different mechanisms simultaneously making it hard for the cancer cells to develop resistance,” added prof Thomas.
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The team used a technique called “proteomics” to determine how thousands of proteins in the cells responded to exposure to the drug lead.
The scientists are now set to research if the compound can be used in combination with current treatments to improve performance.
