“Calcium Storm”: A Highly Potent Drug against Cancer
Researchers from South Korea have succeeded in creating a powerful chemical compound capable of targeting and eliminating cancer cells based on calcium levels within the cells.
Scientists from Ewha Womans University in Seoul have devised a promising new drug to combat cancer by manipulating calcium levels within cells, which is believed to be the key to a “tumor-suppressive” formula, causing the drug to accumulate calcium and suffocate the tumor until its demise.
Typically, an excess of calcium ions is harmful and leads to the suffocation of healthy cellular components, such as “mitochondria,” the energy-producing organelles.
However, researchers have now found, in a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, a way to harness this harmful excess flow to deter and destroy cancer cells in the body through what they term a “calcium storm.”
The drug consists of “nanosilica” particles containing a dye called “indocyanine green,” a procedure used for fluorescence imaging.
Tumors recognize the “silica,” and the “nanoparticles” are transported inside the targeted cells. Once there, the dye is activated by near-infrared light.
This leads to a dual attack: it produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) molecules that open the calcium channel in the cell’s outer membrane. Simultaneously, the temperature rises, causing the release of calcium-storing vesicles inside the cell.
This injectable formulation has proven its effectiveness in laboratory experiments conducted on human cancer cells in a petri dish.
Subsequent tests on tumor-afflicted mice showed that the drug accumulated in the tumors through specially modified silica beads that caused no harm to the rodents. Upon exposure to near-infrared light, the drug began to act, clearing the mice of tumors within a few days.
