Iridium is the second-density metal in the world — can kill cancer cells, imbuing them with a deadly version of the oxygen, leaving healthy tissue intact. First discovered in 1803, metal got its name from the Latin “rainbow”. Heavy, fragile and yellow metal comes from the same family of platinum, and is the most corrosion-resistant metal in the world.
Iridium is rare on Earth but abundant in meteorite. In the earth’s crust was found a large quantity of iridium the age of 66 million years, which led to the theory that he appeared on the planet along with the asteroid that caused extinction of dinosaurs.
Scientists have created an iridium compound and an organic material, which they target directly to the cancer cells. Coupling transfers energy in cells, converting oxygen within them in the singlet oxygen that is toxic and kills the cell, leaving healthy tissue unharmed.
“This project is a leap forward in understanding how these new anticancer compounds based on iridium attacking cancer cells, it presents different mechanisms of action, which allow to circumvent the problem of resistance and fight cancer from a different angle,” says study co-author Cookson Chiu, graduate student of the Department of chemistry at the University of Warwick.
Lighting laser skin cancerous region starts the process — it reaches siteactive coating on the joint and activates the metal begins to fill the cancer cells singlet oxygen.
Photochemotherapy — using laser light to treat cancer — is rapidly evolving as a viable, effective and non-invasive treatment. Patients are becoming increasingly resistant to traditional treatments, so it is important to establish new ways like this to combat the disease.
Scientists have discovered that after the attack the red laser light (which can penetrate deep under the skin) for a simulated lung tumor, which was grown in the laboratory, activated, organic-iridium component has penetrated all layers of the tumor, killing it. It has demonstrated how effective and far-reaching was the treatment.
Scientists also proved that this method is safe for healthy cells after treatment noncancerous tissue and found that she was unharmed.
“Our innovative approach to cancer control, including targeting important cellular proteins, may lead to the emergence of new drugs with new mechanisms of action. It is very necessary,” says Zhang Guys, fellow of the faculty of chemistry of the University of Warwick.
The scientists used advanced methods of mass spectrometry to obtain unprecedented views of the individual proteins within cancer cells — and this allowed them to determine exactly what proteins were attacked, organico-iridium connection.
Analyzing large amounts of data — thousands of proteins from a simulated cancer cells — they concluded that the iridium connection has damaged the key molecules in cancer proteins.
“The precious metal platinum is already used in more than 50% of cancer chemotherapy. In the present study the potential of other precious metals like iridium to the creation of new targeted drugs that will attack cancer cells differently and with minimal side effects,” said Peter Sadler, whose laboratory is at the Department of chemistry at the University of Warwick. “It’s time to find medical use iridium, which was brought to us with an asteroid 66 million years ago.”
Heavy metal from meteorites have been able to kill the cancer cells
Ilya Hel