Originally published September 14 2005
Naturally occurring metals could be the next ingredients in medicines
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Chemists at Ohio State University are finding that molecules derived from metals like copper act like ACE, inhibitors and could effectively lower blood pressure.
That's the finding of chemists at Ohio State University, who have successfully tested such molecules against portions of HIV and Hepatitis C virus RNA in the laboratory.
They've also created molecules that act like ACE, or angiotensin-converting enzyme, inhibitors -- drugs that are used to lower blood pressure.
At the American Chemical Society national meeting in Washington, DC, project leader James Cowan described how the same patent-pending technology could one day produce novel anti-tumor agents.
Drugs based on these molecules could produce fewer side effects compared to some of today's treatments, and they could also combat drug resistance, said Cowan, professor of chemistry at Ohio State.
At the same time, drug-resistant bacteria and viruses are emerging.
"We have to start broadening the landscape of drug design."
His new molecules, called metal coordination complexes, mimic the activity of natural enzymes that break apart DNA, RNA, and proteins in the body.
Cowan and his colleagues have tailor-made different complexes to break apart portions of RNA that enable HIV and Hepatitis C viruses to function, as well as the ACE enzyme that constricts blood vessels in the body.
Others use hydrolysis, meaning that they break down the target's chemical waterproofing, so that the water that is naturally present in a cell dissolves the target.
Metals can be toxic, but so can some organic molecules that are used as drugs, Cowan pointed out.
One of these complexes could destroy a target, and then move on to another, eventually destroying many targets.
Completely destroying the target molecule also lowers the chance that a virus will develop a drug-resistant strain.
"What the industry really needs for the next generation are compounds that work on more than one target, because this will really accelerate progress against disease," he said.
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