A research team from the Ural Federal and the Ural State Medical Universities (Russia) have synthesized a compound with anti-tumor properties that could form the basis of a drug to treat glioblastoma—an aggressive and malignant tumor of the central nervous system.
Today there are drugs for the treatment of this disease, but they are extremely toxic and have strong side effects. If the experiments on animals and humans show a positive result, a new, less toxic unique drug against malignant tumors may emerge in Russia. The compound's mechanism of action is detailed in the scientific journal BioMetals.
"The structure of the new substance is similar to cisplatin, a drug that is used in chemotherapy today," Scientific Russia noted.
The basis of both drugs is the platinum base and low molecular weight, which enables the molecules to penetrate into the brain with the blood. It can be said that they are close analogues.
The problem with cisplatin is that it binds to the DNA molecule, inhibits the division of both diseased and healthy cells, and induces apoptosis. The substance created probably causes another type of cell death: ferroptosis. It does not interact with DNA, does not interfere with cell division, but generates active forms of oxygen.
Also, if it is proved on living organisms that the new substance causes ferroptosis due to the induction of active forms of oxygen, the drug created on the basis of this substance can be extremely interesting and promising.
If the other mechanism of action is confirmed during experiments on animals and humans, it will mean that a new drug for the treatment of malignant tumors will emerge, and will be less toxic to the body and can be used in cases where traditional medicine is ineffective.
Researchers plan to continue this work and perform pre-clinical experiments.
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