MOSCOW, July 3. Specialists from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), together with colleagues from other universities, synthesized new compounds to suppress the growth of malignant tumors — in particular, they turned out to be several times more effective than traditional ones in melanoma , follows from a study, the results of which are presented in the journal Bioorganic Chemistry.
According to WHO, cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, but many types are curable with timely diagnosis and proper treatment. The most effective treatment methods include chemotherapy, which uses aggressive chemicals to destroy tumors. But traditional chemotherapy drugs are very toxic, so today scientists are faced with the task of developing safer drugs, noted SPbPU.
Research team, which included researchers from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, synthesized new pyrrolothienopyrimidine derivatives — compounds that potentially have high biological activity.
Experts assessed the effectiveness of these substances against cancer tumors both using melanoma cell cultures in vitro and during experiments on laboratory animals. According to the scientists, six compounds demonstrated significant antitumor effects against melanoma, breast and colorectal cancer cells. And the most effective compound is four times more active than traditional substances in reducing the volume of tumors that arose in a mouse model of melanoma.
The university noted that As a result of experiments in laboratory animals, no pathological changes were found in the main organs (heart, lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys), which suggests the absence of general toxicity of the material.
““Synthesized compounds will improve the effectiveness of cancer therapy and improve the quality of life of patients with oncology. Their use will also create the prerequisites for the formation and scaling of technologies for the production of domestic pharmaceuticals, and implement import substitution in the pharmaceutical industry,” said one of the authors of the development, a research assistant. Laboratory of Nano- and Microencapsulation of Biologically Active Substances of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University Anna Rogova.
1 of 2
2 of 2
1 of 2
2 of 2
Now scientists have to study the safety of the resulting compounds in more detail. For this purpose, it is planned to conduct preclinical and clinical studies.
Specialists from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, ITMO University, Institute of Ecology and Genetics of Microorganisms Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Perm State National Research University, Academic University named after Zh. I. Alferov, PNIPU took part in the work and the Institute of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Transplantology named after R. M. Gorbacheva.