From
The Observer:
A University professor has recently discovered certain chemicals that can kill cancer cells and potentially be used in a new generation of anti-cancer drugs.
Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Subhash Basu recently announced his findings based on 10 years of research with almost 20 collaborators. During the past decade, Basu and his associates, including Dr. Rui Ma, Dr. Patrick Boyle and his wife, Dr. Manju Basu, have reported that apoptotic agents such as
Tamoxifen and Melphalan will initiate apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in metastatic breast and colon cancer cells.
“Cancer cells are unlike normal cells in that they don’t want to die,” Basu said. “A normal cell goes through a process that ranges from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ with the ‘Z’ being death, but cancer cells obviously never hit ‘Z.’ We found these apoptotic agents start this ‘A’ to ‘Z’ path so we discovered that they can be used to kill cancer cells.”
Basu said he and his associates place the apoptotic agents into a liposome, which is composed of conjugated nanoparticles made of gold, iron oxide or cadium sulfide, resulting in the creation of a “Magic Bullet” that can target several types of cancer cells.
Basu believes the combination of the apoptotic agents with a liposome is a breakthrough in the field of anti-cancer drugs.
“When we administer anti-cancer drugs to patients we have to give them in high doses that kill normal cells as well as cancer cells,” he said. “With the apoptotic agents we would deliver them in a hundred times lower level.”
On Oct. 22, Basu gave a talk at the seventh International Drug Discovery Science and Technology Symposium held in Shanghai, China. Basu said the reaction from China was positive.
“They were pleased with my findings but they asked a lot of questions too,” he said. “They wanted to know how stable the liposomes are and how we can direct the different agents to the different cancer cells. I had to give them a bit of a plan.”
Basu said this plan included continuing his research for at least the next five years.
“We need to definitely establish that the different anti-bodies in the ‘bullet’ go to the different cancer cells,” he said. “We need to make sure that the proper one goes to the liver, colon and breast; finding this information will take years.”
Although there are still many years of additional research ahead of him, Basu said he is confident in his work and hopes that bringing more awareness to his findings will prompt further research by others.