{"id":28671,"date":"2024-02-23T14:26:52","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T14:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-universal-cure-for-cancer"},"modified":"2024-02-23T14:46:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T14:46:09","slug":"russian-scientists-create-universal-cure-for-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/russian-scientists-create-universal-cure-for-cancer","title":{"rendered":"Russian Scientists Create Universal Cure for Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) along with other researchers from Russia have managed to make cancer treatment with radioactive actinium-225 40% more effective.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, they have developed a special nanopackaging for actinium, which protects the body from toxic degradation products 6-10 times more effectively than its analogues. The article was published in the ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces journal.<\/p>\n

Actinium-225 is a radioactive isotope first discovered as a degradation product of uranium-233. As explained by the TPU scientists, this substance is considered a highly promising radiopharmaceutical for the treatment of various forms of cancer, including the most severe ones.<\/p>\n

This is due to the fact that actinium emits alpha particles: the linear energy transfer of this type is smaller than that of beta rays, so it “hits” cancer cells more accurately without affecting healthy ones. However, actinium-225 produces toxic daughter isotopes, such as francium-221 and bismuth-213, which accumulate in liver, kidney and spleen. The researchers explain that this is what prevents actinium from being widely used in clinical practice.<\/p>\n

The solution to this problem was found by TPU researchers, who proposed a unique method of isotope packaging into a polymer-protein capsule. According to them, it helps neutralise toxic isotopes and increase the therapeutic effect of actinium-225 by 40%.<\/p>\n

“Actinium is considered a universal isotope, and in theory it can be used to treat all types of cancer provided that the problem of toxicity is solved. Our method involves the use of a biodegradable polymer: the capsule decays into harmless elements after francium-221 and bismuth-213 decay into harmless isotopes”, Alexander Timin, one of the authors of the article and leading researcher of the TPU Research School of Chemistry & Applied Biomedical Sciences explained.<\/p>\n

The half-life of actinium-225 is 10 days and the capsule remains intact for at least two weeks. Animal testing has shown the accumulation of no more than 5% of the total amount in the kidneys, while the existing systems lead to the accumulation rate ranging from 30-35% to 50%. Moreover, the resistance of new capsules is 70-80% higher than that of analogues, the researchers said.<\/p>\n

The TPU researchers explain that nowadays the physical method is commonly used for actinium packaging: the isotope is simply mixed with porous polymer nanospheres, “locking” most of it inside. However, the structure has proven itself unreliable, they noted.<\/p>\n

When creating new capsules, the authors used chemical methods, first binding actinium to albumin, a protein molecule, and then placing it in a polymer solution. Albumin creates a strong covalent bond with the polymer, literally surrounding the isotope with a protective sphere. The TPU scientists used a commercially available polymer based on polypeptides and polysaccharides.<\/p>\n\r\n