The team achieved a breakthrough in cancer treatment in vitro using "self-assembled" drugs.
Two different compounds were generated using zinc (left) and manganese (right).
One of the most challenging aspects of cancer treatment is the variety of different tumors that may occur, each of which may require a different solution, because unfortunately, one drug is not suitable for everyone. In addition, another major problem with many current drugs is their poor selectivity for cancer, which leads to problems such as normal tissue toxicity, serious side effects, and drug resistance.
Now, a group of scientists at the University of Huddersfield are studying how to meet these challenges by using “self-assembled” drugs. Although this research is still in its early stages, they have made breakthroughs.
The science behind self-assembly
Self-assembly is the ability to guide chemical systems with specific information, so they will spontaneously produce biologically active compounds in the right environment. Using this process, many different compounds can be formed quickly and easily, and each different self-assembled drug has different chemotherapeutic properties.
“In the future, it is possible to use this method to 'self-assemble‘ the right drugs to target multiple types of cancer, so as to be selective for specific cancers,” Professor Craig Rice said.
In an article published in the journal Nature Communications, Professor Roger Phillips, Dr. Simon Allison and Professor Craig Rice of the university demonstrated the chemical system of self-assembled molecular capsules, which are highly toxic to a series of different tumor types of human cancer cells.
More importantly, they have shown unprecedented cancer selectivity in the laboratory, and in some cases, they are thousands of times more toxic to cancer cells than healthy normal cells.
Cancer treatment without serious side effects
In the end, if similar results are obtained in a more complex testing system, including patients, and once carefully tested and considered safe, it may be possible to treat cancer without the serious side effects usually associated with chemotherapy drugs.
“The discovery and development of anti-cancer drugs can be very time-consuming and expensive, because specific drugs are only effective for a relatively small number of cancers with specific shared properties,” Professor Rice, head of the department of Chemical sciences at the university, explained. Director of the Center for Structural, Molecular and Dynamic Modeling, School of Applied Sciences.
“In the future, it is possible to use this method to target multiple types of cancer with the right drug'self-assembly‘, so as to be selective for specific cancers,” he said.
For hard-to-treat cancer
The research can also pave the way for targeting difficult-to-treat cancers that have little or no effect on commonly used chemotherapy drugs.
Published studies have shown that new potential drugs can be assembled with zinc, copper or manganese. These three metal ions impart significantly different chemotherapeutic properties through different mechanisms, depending on the metal ion used.
“It is this that allows the production of different chemical systems, each of which may be specific to different cancers,” he said.
Two different compounds were generated using zinc (left) and manganese (right) (see attached picture). Although the two compounds “look” very similar, zinc compounds show excellent anti-cancer activity and selectivity for a range of cancers in the laboratory, while manganese compounds are relatively more toxic, which means that at lower concentrations, they have similar selectivity compared with the currently tested drugs.
Future studies will test whether this is useful for cancer for which there is currently no effective treatment.
Professor Rice added that these studies represent the early stages of drug discovery. Although the preliminary results are very promising, there are still many obstacles to overcome before realizing the full clinical potential of this new discovery.
