Now, however, Dr Jacob and Dr Gutowski of Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, with support from Peninsula Medical School, are working on a new approach that causes cancer cells to self-destroy: effectively to commit suicide. In a project that started in 2000 (first with funding from UK Research Council funding, then from Leverhulme Trust and involvement of Exeter Antioxidant Therapeutics Ltd) research has led to discovery of catalysts that mimic activity of a certain human enzyme (glutathione peroxidase). They work by setting off reactions in cancer cells causing them to kill themselves. A crucial benefit of this approach is that drugs target only diseased cells, leaving healthy ones intact. This means that any therapy based on this approach should avoid many of risks and side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The treatment is also highly efficient because, as Dr Jacob says, 'catalysts are not consumed during their activity but are recycled over and over again. This means that only minute quantities of biocatalyst are needed to kill cancer cells.'

Dr Jacob goes on to explain that principle to make cancer cells kill themselves 'is based on fact that catalysts are not only effective, but also highly selective: 'We knew from previous research (by us and others) that cancer cells have their own "biochemical signature" and that we could design catalysts that recognise this signature and use it to kill cells. We have also looked at natural human defence systems - and they use a similar catalytic chemistry.'