Gold Cures Cancer? New Study Finds Promising Results

(Kitco News) – Tiny specks of gold can help patients battle cancer, according to a new study from Edinburgh University.

The idea is that the precious metal can make other drugs prescribed to treat lung cancer more effective, the research stated.

Scientists worked to encase gold nanoparticles, which are microscopic pieces of the precious metal, in a chemical device and witnessed that they can accelerate other chemical reactions.

This discovery could potentially allow doctors to insert chemotherapy treatments directly into tumors, limiting the negative side effects on the human body.

“We have discovered new properties of gold that were previously unknown and our findings suggest that the metal could be used to release drugs inside tumors very safely,” said Dr. Asier Unciti-Broceta, who works at the University of Edinburgh’s Cancer Research U.K. Centre.

The experiments were conducted on zebrafish with researchers successfully in implanting a device inside their brains.

The team remains hopeful that they can tweak their technique to make it applicable to human treatments as well.

“There is still work to do before we can use this on patients, but this study is a step forward. We hope that a similar device in humans could one day be implanted by surgeons to activate chemotherapy directly in tumors and reduce harmful effects to healthy organ,” Dr. Unciti-Broceta explained.

This discovery could have wider implications, helping patients with other forms of cancer.

“In particular, it could help improve treatment for brain tumors and other hard-to-treat cancers. The next steps will be to see if this method is safe to use in people, what its long- and short-term side effects are, and if it’s a better way to treat some cancers,” said Dr Aine McCarthy, senior science information officer at Cancer Research U.K.

The scientific journal Angewandte Chemie published the study in its July issue. The study was done in collaboration with researchers from the University of Zaragoza’s Institute of Nanoscience of Aragon in Spain. It was funded by the Cancer Research U.K. and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.