The new weapon in the fight with cancer... gold

Study shows tiny flecks of metal can boost effectiveness of drugs

TINY flecks of gold could be implanted in humans to combat cancer, new research has suggested.

Scientists at Edinburgh University have completed a study which shows the precious metal increased the effectiveness of drugs used to treat lung cancer cells.

The team encased minute fragments, known as gold nanoparticles, in a prototype chemical device which was implanted in the brain of a zebrafish to control the effects of cancer drugs.

Gold is a safe chemical element and has the ability to accelerate – or catalyse – chemical reactions in living things with zero side effects. While it has not yet been tested on humans, it is hoped such a technique could one day be used to reduce side effects of current chemotherapy treatments by precisely targeting diseased cells without damaging healthy tissue.

The study was carried out in collaboration with researchers at the University of Zaragoza’s Institute of Nanoscience of Aragon in Spain, with funding from Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Dr Asier Unciti-Broceta, from Edinburgh University’s CRUK Centre, said: ‘We have discovered new properties of gold that were previously unknown and our findings suggest that the metal could be used to release drugs inside tumours very safely.

‘There is still work to do before we can use this on patients, but this study is a step forward. We hope that a similar device in humans could one day be implanted by surgeons to activate chemotherapy directly in tumours and reduce harmful effects to healthy organs.’

Dr Aine McCarthy, Cancer Research UK’s senior science information officer, said: ‘By devel- oping new, better ways of delivering cancer drugs, studies like this have the potential to improve cancer treatment and reduce side effects. In particular, it could help improve treatment for brain tumours and other hard-to-treat cancers.

‘The next steps will be to see if this method is safe to use in people, what its long and shortterm side effects are, and if it’s a better way to treat some cancers.’

The research has been published in the scientific journal Angewandte Chemie.

Gold already has a variety of medical uses as it is highly resistant to bacteria. It is used in wires for pacemakers and in stents which support weak blood vessels in the treatment of heart disease. Scientists frequently used the freshwater zebrafish in cancer research for a number of reasons.

Their translucent skin allows researchers to observe tumour growths and reductions without having to use medical scanners.

They also reproduce at an incredibly high rate. A breeding pair can produce up to 300 embryos a week, allowing scientists to conduct thousands of tests at a time to ensure the reliability of their results.

Though only 2.5in in length they also share a number of genes with humans, meaning they can develop most of the tumours we can. A staggering 84 per cent of genes linked with human disease have a zebrafish counterpart.

‘Reduce harmful effects to organs’