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To create their molecule capable of killing cancer cells, the researchers were inspired by the one found naturally in marine sponges of the Caribbean. – DeSoi Darren / SUPERSTOCK / SIPA
- Toulouse scientists have been inspired by a molecule in a Caribbean marine sponge to create an anti-cancer drug.
- Their synthetic molecule multiplied by 700 to 1,000 times its impact on cancer cells compared to that of the natural molecule present in the sponge.
- They know the power of their "super molecule" in the laboratory. They are now trying to understand how she kills cancer cells and how to give her the opportunity to target a particular cancer.
Nature is an open-air laboratory. And a fantastic source of inspiration for scientists. Some Toulouse have decided to look a few years ago on the "super powers" sponges found in the Caribbean seabed.
And exploit one of their natural molecules whose anticancer properties are known. After having decorticated it, researchers from the laboratory Synthesis and physico-chemistry of molecules of biological interest (SPCMIB) reproduced it in the laboratory.
"It's as if we take a rough stone, that we have chiselled and shaped to keep only its interesting properties and overcome its defects," says Yves Genisson, director of research.
They boosted the anticancer capabilities of the synthetic molecule
Once the weapon was found, it had to be made more powerful and know how to make it work against the cancer cells. To achieve this, the laboratory team partnered with members of the Laboratory for Coordination Chemistry (LCC) and
the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology (IPBS), also based in the Pink City, on the campus of Paul Sabatier University.
Together, they have successfully boosted the anticancer capabilities of the synthetic molecule. "If we compare it to the natural molecule that inspired us, we increased from 700 to 1,000 times its impact on cancer cells," says Sebastien Britton, one of the researchers at IPBS. Once inside the cell, the molecule then acts like a grenade and destroys its target from the inside.
Get to use it in a targeted way
Promising results whose results were published in the spring. But for scientists there are still some mysteries to break through. In particular, how can these "super" molecules kill cancer cells, how can they identify their target? "We want to know how to use it in this or that cancer," says
Etienne Joly, researcher at IPBS (CNRS / UPS).
Promising results that suggest in a few years the possibility of transforming the trial and eventually develop an effective drug.
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