The problem with cancer cells is that they don't die. Regular cells are programed to divide only so many times before they die but cancer cells just keep going and going. Two of the drugs used in chemotherapy are cisplatin and carboplatin. These molecules are combinations of platinum with other chemicals and they work by turning the cell death mechanism back on. Unfortunately, the platinum based chemicals are resisted by some kinds of cancer.
A group of scientists working at School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds have developed some new coumpounds with the metals Ruthenium and Osmium that seem to work very well against the kinds of cancer that the platinum based chemicals don't work for.
Links
The Abstract
The Science Daily Article: easier to understand than the abstract. I really like this website.
American Cancer Society's info page for cisplatin
How the platinum drugs were discovered. It's a neat story.
Word(s) of the Day
(These definitions are quoted word for word from Wikipedia, which I don't usually do... I didn't think I had anything to add and also, it being chemistry, I thought it was more likely to be correct.)
Ruthenium (pronounced /ruːˈθiːniəm/ roo-THEE-nee-əm) is a chemical element that has the symbol Ru and atomic number 44. A rare transition metal of the platinum group of the periodic table, ruthenium is found associated with platinum ores and used as a catalyst in some platinum alloys.
Osmium (pronounced /ˈɒzmiəm/, OZ-mee-əm) is a chemical element that has the symbol Os and atomic number 76. Osmium is a hard, brittle, blue-gray or blue-black transition metal in the platinum family, and is the densest natural element. The density of osmium is 22.61 g/cm3, slightly greater than that of iridium, the second densest element. Osmium is found in nature as an alloy, mostly in platinum ores. Osmium is also used in alloys, with platinum, iridium and other platinum group metals. Those alloys are employed in fountain pen tips, electrical contacts and in other applications where extreme durability and hardness are needed.
(These definitions are quoted word for word from Wikipedia, which I don't usually do... I didn't think I had anything to add and also, it being chemistry, I thought it was more likely to be correct.)
Ruthenium (pronounced /ruːˈθiːniəm/ roo-THEE-nee-əm) is a chemical element that has the symbol Ru and atomic number 44. A rare transition metal of the platinum group of the periodic table, ruthenium is found associated with platinum ores and used as a catalyst in some platinum alloys.
Osmium (pronounced /ˈɒzmiəm/, OZ-mee-əm) is a chemical element that has the symbol Os and atomic number 76. Osmium is a hard, brittle, blue-gray or blue-black transition metal in the platinum family, and is the densest natural element. The density of osmium is 22.61 g/cm3, slightly greater than that of iridium, the second densest element. Osmium is found in nature as an alloy, mostly in platinum ores. Osmium is also used in alloys, with platinum, iridium and other platinum group metals. Those alloys are employed in fountain pen tips, electrical contacts and in other applications where extreme durability and hardness are needed.
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