Researchers at Aston University in the UK achieve a 99% success rate in lab tests.
Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer. Up to two-thirds of those affected are children, adolescents, and young adults. The average survival rate in the first five years after diagnosis is currently up to 70% with chemotherapy. However, these rates have hardly improved since the 1970s, according to Aston University in Birmingham, UK. Survival rates are drastically reduced when osteosarcoma recurs, and primary bone cancer also increases the risk of bone fractures.
A research team at Aston University has now developed a new potential treatment, which showed a 99% success rate in killing bone cancer cells in lab tests. The method involves doping bioactive glasses — a filling material that can bond with tissue and improve the strength of bones and teeth — with the metal gallium. The glasses produced are highly toxic, the researchers write in the study published in the journal Biomedical Materials. The “greedy” cancer cells absorb the material and thereby kill themselves, while healthy cells remain unaffected.
The researchers add that the method could also be suitable for regenerating diseased bones. After incubating the bioactive glasses in a simulated body fluid, the first stages of bone formation could be detected after seven days, according to the press release.
Following these initial “very promising results,” the scientists hope for further research funding to continue their work. The goal, according to study leader Professor Richard Martin, is to develop an effective and more localized treatment with fewer side effects.
How raw materials are advancing cancer therapy: In another research study, which we reported on over two years ago, gallium also proved effective in killing cancer cells, this time focusing on brain tumors. The precious metal ruthenium could also offer new hope for cancer patients. Rhenium, on the other hand, has been successfully used locally against skin cancer for several years.
Photo: iStock/nortonrsx
