Courtesy: Professor Martin Leer, University of Lincoln. phys.org/.../2019-04-scientists-world-firsts-anti-tumour-antibiotic.html
After 20 years of dedicated research, scientists have cracked the chemical code of an incredibly complex "antitumor antibiotic," which is known to be highly effective against cancer cells as well as drug-resistant bacteria, and for the first time reproduced it in a laboratory by synthetic means.
Кedarcidin ,this major breakthrough, and for the first time in the world, may mark a new era in the development and production of new antibiotics and anti-cancer agents.
"Super substance" - kedarcidin - was discovered in its natural form by a pharmaceutical company when they removed it from a soil sample in India almost 30 years ago. The soil is the natural source of all antibiotics developed since the 1940s, but in order for them to become potential drugs, they must be produced by chemical synthesis.
Kedarcidin, unlike many other antibiotics that focus solely on the destruction of bacteria, can also harm tumor cells and has the potential to effectively treat cancer.
Кedarcidin is incredible in its biological activity, since it acts to cause DNA damage to its target, as well as its structural complexity. He was the subject of extensive research by scientists all over the world, but because of its complex structure, they still could not reproduce it in its fullest and most accurate form.
Dr. Martin Lear of the University of Lincoln, UK, and Professor Masahiro Hirama of the University of Tohoku in Japan were the first scientists in the world to create a complete synthesis of this highly unstable natural product. Their findings are published in the Journal of Antibiotics by Nature.
The antitumor properties of kedarcidin also make it an interesting subject for scientists exploring new ways of dealing with aggressive cancers. Now that it is possible to recreate this substance synthetically, researchers will be able to better understand the mechanisms that make it so effective, for example, against leukemia and melanoma cells.
