Liquorice Cancer Care
Liver cancer affects over 2,800 people in the UK each year, of which nearly 2,700 die, according to Cancer Research UK. Surgery is the best option, but is unsuitable for most patients, and liver tumours are very resistant to chemotherapy.
Studies in mice by Zhi Yuan and his team at Nankai University, China, revealed that the liquorice compounds, glycerrhetinic acid and glycerrhizic acid, preferentially accumulate in the liver. And when attached to anti-tumours drugs, they are more effective tissue-specific drug carriers than the traditionally used antibodies and oligopeptides (Polymer International DOI 10.1002/pi.2051). ‘Our primary results show that they are effective as liver targeting carriers,’ says Yuan. Clinical trials are planned for the near future. In addition, glycerrhizic acid is tens of thousands of times cheaper and easier to isolate than the antibodies usually used.
Tim Meyer, Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Royal Free Hospital London agrees, that tissue-specific drugs could potentially provide more effective treatment, because a higher concentration of the drug is delivered to the tumour. This would reduce the dose required and significantly decrease toxic effects on other parts of the body.
Media Contact
All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry
Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.
Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.
Newest articles
Microscopic basis of a new form of quantum magnetism
Not all magnets are the same. When we think of magnetism, we often think of magnets that stick to a refrigerator’s door. For these types of magnets, the electronic interactions…
An epigenome editing toolkit to dissect the mechanisms of gene regulation
A study from the Hackett group at EMBL Rome led to the development of a powerful epigenetic editing technology, which unlocks the ability to precisely program chromatin modifications. Understanding how…
NASA selects UF mission to better track the Earth’s water and ice
NASA has selected a team of University of Florida aerospace engineers to pursue a groundbreaking $12 million mission aimed at improving the way we track changes in Earth’s structures, such…
