LEEDS, England, Oct 21, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- British medical scientists say
they've demonstrated that unusual metal compounds can be used to form effective
cancer drugs.
Researchers at the University of Leeds and the University of Warwick said such
metals can form an effective treatment against colon and ovarian cancer,
including cancerous cells that have developed immunity to other drugs.
The study showed a range of compounds containing the metals ruthenium and
osmium, which are found in the same part of the periodic table as platinum and
gold, cause significant cell death in ovarian and colon cancer cells, and are
also very effective against ovarian cancer cells which are resistant to the drug
Cisplatin, a highly successful drug that contains platinum.
Cisplatin was discovered in the 1970s and is one of the most effective cancer
drugs on the market, with a 95 percent cure rate against testicular cancer.
Since the success of Cisplatin, the world's chemists have been trying to
discover whether other metal compounds can be used to treat cancer.
The results of the new study appear in The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
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