Making Cancer Drug that is Ten Times More Potent

The researchers from the University of Missouri are developing a new drug that 10 times more capable of fighting certain types of cancer and is more potent that the existing cancer drugs.

The chemists are working on an existing drug to develop a new drug that is capable of fighting certain types of cancer by including a special factor to it.

"Over the past decade, we have seen an increasing interest in using carboranes in drug design," said Mark W. Lee Jr., assistant professor of chemistry in College of Arts and Science. "Carboranes are clusters of three elements -- boron, carbon and hydrogen. Carboranes don't fight cancer directly, but they aid in the ability of a drug to bind more tightly to its target, creating a more potent mechanism for destroying the cancer cells."

In order to conduct this study, Lee and his team used carbonates in making this new drug that is specially designed to shun cancer cells energy production. For the researchers the key of the drug is to attack the process of cancer cells that depends on more than just healthy cells. They discovered that by escalating the required strength of a drug, a lesser dose is required, that will reduce the side effects thereby increasing the effectiveness of the therapy. With Carbonates, Lee found that the drug is able to bind 10 times more powerfully.

"The reason why these drugs bind stronger to their target is because carboranes exploit a unique and very strong form of hydrogen bonding, the strongest form of interactions for drugs," Lee said.

Lee said, "That this discovery also will lead to further uses for the drug. Too often, after radiation or chemotherapy, cancer cells repair themselves and reinvade the body. This drug not only selectively shuts off the energy production for the cancer cells, but it also inhibits the processes that allow those cancer cells to repair themselves. When we tested our carborane-based drugs, we found that they were unimaginably potent. So far, we have tested this on breast, lung and colon cancer, all with exceptional results."

According tot the researchers this is the firs study to focus on the how carboranes can improve the activity of a drug.

"The end result is that these new drugs could be many thousands of times more potent than the drugs that are used in the clinics today," Lee said.

The study was published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.