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Silver as effective as chemotherapy drug
Silver is as efficient as a leading chemotherapy drug in treating cancer and may even have fewer side effects, a new study has revealed. Results from the study at the University of Leeds, show that particular silver compounds are as toxic to cancer cells as the platinum-based drug Cisplatin, which is widely used to treat a range of cancers.
But the crucial difference is that silver is thought to be much less toxic to healthy human cells, and in some cases, can be beneficial.
Silver is currently used for its antiseptic and antibiotic properties, in bandages, wound dressings and water purification filters in the third world.
Nausea and vomiting, kidney damage and an increased risk of infection are common side effects of Cisplatin, which is used to treat cancer of the lungs, breast, bladder, testicles, head and neck, ovaries and lymph nodes.
“As many are unfortunately aware, chemotherapy can be a very gruelling experience for the patient. Finding effective, yet non-toxic drugs is an ongoing problem, but these preliminary results are an important step in solving it,” Dr Charlotte Willans who is leading the study said.
“Our research has looked at the structure which surrounds a central silver atom. This ‘shrubbery’ is what determines how reactive it is and what it will interact with. Our research has used different types of these ligands to see which is the most effective against cancer cells,” Dr Willans added.
Gene could determine best treatment for TB patients
In the future, tuberculosis patients may receive treatments according to what version they have of a single ‘Goldilocks’ gene, researchers say.
This is one of the first examples in infectious disease of where an individual’s genetic profile can determine which drug will work best for them – the idea of personalised medicine that is gradually becoming familiar in cancer medicine.
An international research team from Oxford University, King’s College London, Vietnam and the USA found that people generate an immune response to tuberculosis that is ‘too much’, ‘too little’ or ‘just right’, according to what versions they have of the LTA4H gene.
The findings indicate that patients are likely to benefit from different drug treatments depending on their LTA4H gene profile.
Furthermore, the researchers show that steroids used as part of the standard treatment for the most severe form of tuberculosis, TB meningitis, only benefit some patients.
The researchers found that changes at a single position in the human LTA4H gene were associated with treatment response.
Only those having LTA4H genes that led to too much inflammation benefited from the use of the steroid dexamethasone.
There is some suggestion that the steroid could have an adverse effect for those whose LTA4H genes already lead them to have a reduced inflammatory response, though the result is not statistically significant.
Newly-found super-Earth could support life
Scientists have discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star.
The star is a member of a triple star system and has a different makeup than our Sun, being relatively lacking in metallic elements.
This discovery demonstrates that habitable planets could form in a greater variety of environments than previously believed. The international team of scientists led by Carnegie’s Guillem Anglada-Escude and Paul Butler used public data from the European Southern Observatory and analyzed it with a novel data analysis method.
They also incorporated new measurements from the Keck Observatory’s High Resolution Echelle Spectrograph and the new Carnegie Planet Finder Spectrograph at the Magellan II Telescope.
Anglada-Escude and his team focused on an M-class dwarf star called GJ 667C, which is 22 light years away.
GJ 667C had previously been observed to have a super-Earth (GJ 667Cb) with a period of 7.2 days, although this finding was never published.
But in addition to this first candidate, the research team found the clear signal of a new planet (GJ 667Cc) with an orbital period of 28.15 days and a minimum mass of 4.5 times that of Earth.
The new planet receives 90 percent of the light that Earth receives. However, because most of its incoming light is in the infrared, a higher percentage of this incoming energy should be absorbed by the planet.
