As existing cancer treatments are associated with risks to healthy cells as well as cancerous ones, recent research worldwide has been concentrating on design of drugs that specifically target cancer cells and leave healthy cells alone. Such treatments lower side effects of drugs significantly, but unfortunately not completely. 'Our approach,' says Dr Jacob, 'uses catalysts to achieve this goal. Catalysts are very different from "one shot" conventional drugs since they facilitate reactions of species already present within cancer cell and themselves are therefore recycled. This means they are active in very small concentrations. Since they "need" cancer cell's reactive species for activity, they are only active in cancer cells but not in normal cells.'

The compounds have been developed and synthesised at Exeter University''s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and tested in cancer cells at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and research is now entering its critical phase. The team has just started with animal tests and hopes to proceed to clinical trials once compounds have shown activity in animal models. They have teamed up with Exeter Antioxidant Therapeutics Ltd. and this company is providing patent protection and is negotiating with larger pharmaceutical companies to develop and test these catalysts further. Since this approach is based on a new method rather than a single new compound, it has considerable potential for development of a range of new catalysts with anticancer potential.

Although research team stresses that treatment based on this approach is still many years off, their findings open up valuable new directions in field of anti-cancer research.

For further information, please contact: Claus Jacob University of Exeter C.Jacob@exeter.ac.uk

Note about Dr Jacob: Dr Claus Jacob moved to Exeter from Harvard Medical School in 1999 and has worked for several years at Chemistry/Medicine interface. He has published numerous research papers on importance of oxidative stress in health and disease.