By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Clinical Trials Week -- Research findings on Drugs and Therapies are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting from Camerino, Italy, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, "Conventional chemotherapy and radiation treatment are two cornerstones of cancer treatment but efforts are required to improve their 'therapeutic window'. The development of metal complexes, including platinum, has had an enormous impact on current cancer chemotherapy."
The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Camerino, "However, these chemotherapeutic drugs can be employed only in the management of a limited number of cancers and, furthermore, their use causes significant side effects. Research over the past 10 years has produced new complexes containing heavy atoms other than platinum, such as iron, cobalt, or gold, which have been used in phase I and phase II trials. Recent preclinical research has shown promising results also using titanium, ruthenium, copper and silver. The anticancer activity of metal-based compounds and nanoparticles (gold and gadolinium in particular) is presently under evaluation in several laboratories in combination with or without X-ray therapy. In fact, if present in sufficiently high concentrations in the tumors, metals can act as a radiotherapy adjuvant: they possess an increased capability to absorb the X-ray radiation with respect to the water-based tissues. Low energy electrons will be then released close to the metal and, therefore, determine a local dose enhancement."
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "This review will focus on the anticancer properties of new drugs and on the rationale for testing their usefulness in combined treatment."
For more information on this research see: The Combined Therapeutical Effect of Metal-based Drugs and Radiation Therapy: The Present Status of Research. Current Medicinal Chemistry, 2014;21(20):2237-2265. Current Medicinal Chemistry can be contacted at: Bentham Science Publ Ltd, Executive Ste Y-2, PO Box 7917, Saif Zone, 1200 Br Sharjah, U Arab Emirates. (Bentham Science Publishers - www.benthamscience.com; Current Medicinal Chemistry - www.benthamscience.com/cmc/index.htm)
Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting C. Ceresa, University of Camerino, Sch Sci & Technol, Div Chem, I-62032 Camerino, Italy. Additional authors for this research include A. Bravin, G. Cavaletti, M. Pellei and C. Santini (see also Drugs and Therapies).
Keywords for this news article include: Italy, Europe, Camerino, Radiation Therapy, Drugs and Therapies
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