A promising drug against prostate cancer
Scientists from America and Denmark have isolated a new drug from weeds,
which allows you to kill cancer cells in mice
The drug, obtained from a special type of weed, destroys cancer cells, acting as a "molecular grenade", but it does not have a toxic effect on blood vessels and normal tissues.
In laboratory studies, it was shown that a 3-day course of the drug reduces the size of the prostate tumor in mice by 50% for 30 days. Also, in direct comparison, the new drug G202 is superior in activity to docetaxel. After 21 days under the action of G202, the size of the prostate tumor grown in mice from human cells decreased by more than 50% in seven out of nine cases, compared with only one out of eight tumors when using docetaxel.
In an article published in the journal Science Translational Medicine (Denmeade et al., Engineering a Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen–Activated Tumor Endothelial Cell Prodrug for Cancer Therapy – VM), scientists also note that G202 also causes growth regression of at least 50% in breast, kidney and urinary cancer models bubble.
The drug G202 was isolated during the chemical treatment of a weed called Thapsia garganica, which grows in the Mediterranean region. From this plant, a substance called tapsigargin is obtained, known for its toxic effect since ancient Greece. (And its ability to suppress the work of calcium channels has also been studied for a long time: a snapshot of a poisonous weed and the structural formula of unmodified tapsigargin are taken from an article by Treiman et al. A tool coming of age: thapsigargin as an inhibitor of sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+-ATPases, published in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences in April 1998 – VM).
By chemically modifying tapsigargin, scientists have created a form that Denmeade compares to an unexploded grenade. The drug injected into the body is in the bloodstream until it comes into contact with groups of cancer cells and proteins known as prostate-specific membrane antigens (PSMA). PSMA is secreted by cells lining the prostate tumor and tumors of other areas. They activate the "mechanism of action" of the drug G202, which leads to the formation of substances that have a cytotoxic effect on tumor cells and blood vessels feeding it, as well as on other adjacent cells. In particular, G202 blocks the function of the SERCA pump, which maintains the necessary level of calcium in the cell. Thus, the tumor cells themselves contribute to the activation of self-destruction.
They emphasize that the effect of the drug is directed at the SERCA pump, which is necessary to maintain the life of all cells, so it is difficult to imagine the development of resistance, since the synthesis of this protein cannot be stopped.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru20.08.2012