It goes without saying how important it is to search for new active medicinal substances that can be used in anticancer therapies. Scientists from the University of Silesia know this very well, conducting intensive research on drugs and designing new active ingredients that can support us in the fight against cancer.
Such a compound, which is a derivative of quinazoline, was proposed by the chemists from the Faculty of Science and Technology: Jacek Mularski, PhD Eng.; Katarzyna Malarz, PhD; and Prof. Robert Musioł. The compound is styrylquinoline that demonstrates several times better effectiveness in colon cancer treatment than imatinib, the substance used so far. As Prof. Rober Musioł states, the developed derivative may prove particularly useful in the cases of oncology patients with damage to the tumour protein P53. Due to the protein P53 role, it is also called the Guardian of the Genome. It is responsible for, i.e., activation of the DNA repair mechanisms of the DNA that is damaged due to a disease.
Treating patients with diagnosed cancers who experience such damage is much more difficult and is associated with a worse prognosis. Thus, it is crucial to search for new chemical compounds that can benefit the course of the therapy. The new derivative of styrylquinoline does entail some cause for such hope. The solution has been patented.
