Just intravenous injection: the first experimental report on the efficacy of a synthetic anticancer drug in vivo

An international research team at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry in Japan (RIKEN) has successfully treated cancer in mice using metal catalysts that assemble anticancer drugs together
.

The study, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, is the first to use therapeutic synthetic chemistry in the body to create a cancer-fighting substance simply by injecting its components intravenously

In addition to effectively killing cancer cells, a major challenge in cancer chemotherapy is how to mitigate the toxic side effects on the body
.

Drugs that destroy cancer cells can also destroy non-cancer cells, and the negative side effects of chemotherapy can cause permanent, debilitating damage

Katsunori Tanaka of the Riken Institute of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Japan, who led the new study, has developed a method to activate prodrugs using transition metal catalysis in vivo
.

When a catalyst is injected into an organism, it is usually ineffective because it is destroyed by antioxidants such as glutathione

Noting that the basic backbone of most anticancer drugs contains a benzene ring, the researchers started using transition metal catalysts to make benzene rings in vivo
.

"No one believed that it was possible to artificially synthesize benzene rings in vivo, but based on our previous achievements, I'm confident we can," Tanaka said

This is the first time that an active anticancer drug has been assembled in the face of cancer and effectively fought against cancer through intravenous injection of drug components
.

In addition to benzene, the methodology developed in this study is expected to enable the synthesis of a variety of other molecules in vivo

"Many cancer patients die as a result of the side effects of treatment
.

We believe that our technology can efficiently attack cancer cells with no side effects, saving lives

---

---

Magazine

Nature Communications

DOI

10.

1038/s41467-021-27804-5