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Researchers have identified new molecules that kill cancer cells while protecting healthy cells and that could be used to treat a variety of different cancers. The research shines a light on what happens to cells at the moment they become cancerous. The research and pre-clinical trial results were published this month as an open access article in EBioMedicine, a new joint research-clinical journal from the editors of Cell and The Lancet. Professor Qing-Bin Lu, from the University of Waterloos Faculty of Science, initiated a novel molecular-mechanism-based program to discover a new class of non-platinum-based-halogenated molecules that kill cancer cells, yet prevent healthy cells from being damaged. The most effective cancer drugs today may kill cancer cells, but they also kill healthy cells, causing severe side effects for patients in the process. Femtosecond time-resolved laser spectroscopy is a technique traditionally applied to study chemical reactions as they occur on a molecular level. The laser takes a series of rapid snapshots of molecules as they interact and change structure over time. The technique is part of a potential new field of science developed by Professor Lu called femtomedicine (FMD), which integrats the ultrafast laser with molecular biology and cell biology. Professor Lu … Continue reading →

There is a compelling need to develop anticancer therapies that target cancer cells and tissues. Arising from innovative femtomedicine studies, a new class of nonplatinum-based halogenated molecules (called FMD molecules) that selectively kill cancer cells and protect normal cells in treatments of multiple cancers has been discovered. This article reports the first observation of the radiosensitizing effects of such compounds in combination with ionizing radiation for targeted radiotherapy of a variety of cancers. We present in vitro and in vivo studies focused on combination with radiotherapy of cervical, ovarian, head and neck, and lung cancers. Our results demonstrate that treatments of various cancer cells in vitro and in vivo mouse xenograft models with such compounds led to enhanced efficiencies in radiotherapy, while the compounds themselves induced no or little radiotoxicity toward normal cells or tissues. These compounds are therefore effective radiosensitizers that can be translated into clinical trials for targeted radiotherapy of multiple types of cancer. This study also shows the potential of femtomedicine to bring breakthroughs in understanding fundamental biologic processes and to accelerate the discovery of novel drugs for effective treatment or prevention of a variety of cancers. Mol Cancer Ther; 15(4); 64050. 2016 AACR. See original here: … Continue reading →

Research in mice suggests molecules could treat cervical, breast, ovarian, and lung cancers A new family of molecules that kill cancer cells and protect healthy cells could be used to treat a number of different cancers, including cervical, breast, ovarian and lung cancers. Research published in EBioMedicine shows that as well as targeting and killing cancer cells, the molecules generate a protective effect against toxic chemicals in healthy cells. Cells can become cancerous when their DNA is damaged. Many different things can cause DNA damage, including smoking, chemicals and radiation; understanding exactly what happens at the point of DNA damage can help scientists develop new cancer treatments. By studying this mechanism, researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada could identify new molecules that selectively target cancer cells. The researchers studied the process of DNA damage using a sort of molecular filming technique called femtosecond time-resolved laser spectroscopy. The technique is like a high-speed camera, which uses two pulses of light: one to start a reaction, and the other to monitor the way the molecules react. This technique let researchers watch how molecules interact in real-time, revealing how cells become cancerous. Researchers have been using femtosecond laser spectroscopy to study … Continue reading →

Electron-transfer reactions play key roles in diverse processes in chemistry, physics, and biology, ranging from photo-induced reactions (1, 2), electron tunneling in proteins (3), and electron transport in DNA (4) to the ozone hole formation (5) and reductive DNA damage (6, 7). Electron-transfer reactions in molecular systems have therefore been the subject of intense experimental and theoretical studies. Following the pioneering contribution of Zewail (8), the advent of femtosecond time-resolved laser spectroscopy (fs-TRLS; 1fs=10-15s) provided an unprecedented capacity in techniques of observing molecular reactions, including electron transfer. Its application to the study of chemical and biological systems led to the birth of new scientific subfields: femtochemistry and femtobiology (8). Recently, Lu (9) further proposed that integrating ultrafast laser techniques with biomedical methods to advance fundamental understandings and treatments of major human diseases might lead to the opening of a new frontier called femtomedicine. Regarding the latter, we have recently unraveled unique dissociative electron-transfer (DET) mechanisms of reductive DNA damage (6, 7) and several anticancer agents for radiotherapy and chemotherapy (1014). In this paper, we present results of experimental studies on a unique combination therapy based on the DET mechanism of cisplatin to enhance the efficacy of human ovarian-, cervical-, and … Continue reading →