A new safer and more effective treatment for breast, colon and lung cancers may soon be in the horizon with the research being done by scientists from the University of the Philippines Diliman-College of Science (UPD-CS) in transforming the anticancer compound deguelin.
Deguelin was originally used as a pesticide and fish poison. The research is addressing concerns about the safety of administering it to humans as a cancer treatment, the scientists said.
Science Research Specialist John Alfon Francisco and Dr. Monissa Paderes of the UPD-CS Institute of Chemistry (UPD-CS IC) addressed these concerns by altering the structure of deguelin.
The altered versions exhibited better qualities than the original compound, the scientists said.
Reduced adverse effects manifested during preliminary tests done on human cancer cell cultures.
This prompted Paderes and collaborators to conduct further research into the safety of the compounds, the researchers pointed out.
Some versions are also more effective against specific types of cancer.
“We were amused to find that some compounds have improved anticancer properties than its parent compound, deguelin, with some even surpassing the effectiveness of the commercially available anticancer drug doxorubicin,” Francisco said.
They cited that a version named 6a outperformed doxorubicin in treating colon cancer.
At the same time, versions 3a and 8e excelled in treating lung and breast cancer, respectively.
They pointed out that the modified versions offer a simpler and more cost-effective production than those developed in previous studies.
“The simplicity of the structures, as well as the straightforward synthesis of these compounds, add to the novelty of this study,” Paderes emphasized.
The researchers created the altered versions by shortening a part of deguelin known as the BCE ring, making the new versions more akin to the deoxybenzoin compound, recognized for its antibacterial and antioxidant properties, they explained.
The researchers said that despite its huge commercial potential, the research is still in its early stages. The next phase involves testing the modified anticancer compounds on animal models.
If the compounds are proven effective on animals, it will move on to clinical trials, where it will be tested on humans with colon, lung, or breast cancer.
If proven successful, the Food and Drug Administration will review and approve the rollout of the compounds as cancer treatments.
“The goal would be to advance these compounds toward clinical trials and potential development as novel anticancer therapeutics,” Paderes said.
Image credits: Francisco, J. A.,and Paderes, M. C.