Cancer cells threaten patient survival by their rapid, uncontrolled division. DNA is central to this, making it an attractive therapeutic target. However, the compaction of DNA-harboring chromatin into chromosomes needs to be overcome to increase therapeutic efficacy.
In their paper in Advanced Materials, Prof. M. Arturo López-Quintela and Prof. Fernando Domínguez from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and their co-workers describe Ag3 clusters that revert chromatin compaction and improve the therapeutic index of cancer chemotherapy.
Prof. M. Arturo López-Quintela: “Clusters of metal Ag atoms have totally different properties than bulk material and nanoparticles. We developed a new synthetic method to produce silver clusters of only three atoms and we produced enough amounts to explore their actions on chromatin.”
Prof. Fernando Domínguez: “Chromatin compaction isolates DNA from the interaction with other molecules. Ag3 clusters open chromatin to the binding of chemotherapeutic agents. In mice with lung tumors, co-administration of clusters with cisplatin increases the amount of cisplatin bound tumor DNA by five-fold and this greatly reduces the burden of the tumor in those mice.”
To learn more about this promising method for improving cancer chemotherapy efficacy, please visit the Advanced Materials homepage.
