Modified Ecstasy might be used to fight blood cancers

A modified form of ecstasy is likely to have an important role in combating certain types of blood cancers. The conclusion is part of a study by the University of Birmingham, in partnership with an Australian university and has just been published in the journal Investigational New Drugs.
 
The properties of ecstasy (a drug synthesized in the laboratory) to get to kill some cancer cells were already known. But the group of scientists responsible for this work was farther and prove the effectiveness of this drug in diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma - with ecstasy could kill the cells of this type of cancer pathology tests that have been made in using laboratory test tubes, reports the BBC.

In 2006 a study at the University of Birmingham, in Britain, both had shown that this drug as some antidepressants like Prozac had great potential brake on the development of some cancers. The problem with this previous study is that the doses of these drugs to be effective, would be so high that would be lethal for patients.

Now, in collaboration with the University of Western Australia, the researchers were able to chemically alter ecstasy, removing a few atoms of the drug and putting others in their place. This new formula, less toxic to the brain, has also proved more effective in combating the proliferation of cancer cells: if previously required, for example, 100 grams of ecstasy unmodified to obtain the desired effect, now a single gram of new way chemistry is enough.

"Against cancers, particularly leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, we tested these new components and in some cases can clean 100 percent of cancerous cells," said the BBC John Gordon, Birmingham University and coordinator of research. "We need to determine which are the most sensitive cases, but [the ecstasy modified] has the potential to clear cancer cells in all these examples," he added, save that these tests were done in the laboratory, so the results may be different in any trials with patients.

Research explains that this drug is attracted by the fat cells of the cancers mentioned, eventually destroying them, but for now, there will be no requirement for this substance to patients and that it is not foreseeable in the near future as they will be always necessary animal studies and subsequent clinical trials.

Source publico.pt