The new compound has been coded FY26 and it is formed from a very rare precious metal called osmium. The metal was discovered by researchers from the University of Warwick. It is a hard, brittle, bluish-white transition metal in the platinum group that is found as a trace element in alloys, mostly in platinum ores. In the pure state the metal is volatile and very toxic.
Later observations with the metal revealed that it appears to shift the metabolism within ovarian cancer cells. Here the metal compound stresses cancer cells and triggers them to activate their defective mitochondria (the power sources of cells), and this causes their destruction.
Discussing the medical application further, lead researcher Dr. Peter Sadler told Laboratory Roots: “Healthy cells generate their energy in organelles called mitochondria, but cancer cells have defective mitochondria and are forced to generate energy through glycolysis in the cytoplasm. Our new compounds work by attacking the energy balance in cancer cells.”
Dr. Sadler and his research team undertook a study where they demonstrated precisely how FY26 targets cancer cells from the inside. This was revealed through X-ray fluorescence to allow for the tracking of the compound. X-ray fluorescence is a non-destructive analytical technique used to determine the elemental composition of materials.
The results were successful and will allow new approaches to drug discovery and treatment to be developed. The studies revealed that FY26 is almost 50 times more potent than Cisplatin, which is a widely used platinum-based chemotherapeutic agent. In addition, where cancer cells can become resistant to common chemotherapy agents the researchers think, because of the different mechanism, that resistance to Organo-Osmium FY26 is less likely. A further advantage is with potential production costs, with osmium-based drugs being cheaper to produce than many other chemotherapy agents.
To date the compound has only been tested in ovarian cancer cells and all studies are laboratory based. No animal trials have yet to be conducted and the compound, as a clinical treatment for humans, remains a few years away from being implemented.
The study has been published in Chemistry – A European Journal, under the title “Synchrotron X-Ray Fluorescence Nanoprobe Reveals Target Sites for Organo-Osmium Complex in Human Ovarian Cancer Cells.”
