[ad_1]
A new technique for precisely targeting molecules in cells opens the way to safer drugs with no side effects. The researcher J. Julius Zhu and his colleagues have come up with a way to manipulate molecules from one compartment to another in individual cells.
The same molecules do different things according to their location, the researchers said. By manipulating the molecules, scientists can pinpoint locations to target while avoiding areas that would cause harmful side effects.
"The problem with side effects is that you can not distinguish molecules from different cells." Zhu says
"If you blocked a molecule, you blocked it, no matter what it was. And that usually has undesirable side effects.Most drugs that can treat diseases have side effects, major or minor, but usually they always have something, "he added. Read : Side Effects of Medications and Adverse Drug Reactions – Causes, Management and Complications
Up to now, drugs have targeted molecules very broadly. If a molecule is considered dangerous, researchers could try to develop a drug to block it completely.
But Zhu's new work highlights the drawbacks of this approach. A molecule can cause problems because of what it does in one part of the cell, but at the same time, that same molecule does something completely different in other parts.
So shutting it down completely would be like trying to solve the problem of traffic congestion by banning cars.
Now, rather than roughly trying to block a molecule regardless of its many functions, doctors can target a specific molecule by doing a specific thing in a specific place. This adds a new level of precision to the concept of precision medicine – medicine tailored exactly to the needs of the patient.
Zhu and his team of researchers believe that the technique will be useful for many diseases, but especially for cancers and neurological diseases. These, in particular, will benefit from a better understanding of what molecules in which places would make good targets.
The technique will also accelerate the development of new treatments by enabling researchers to better understand what molecules are doing and which ones should be targeted. "The idea [behind the technique] is actually very simple," Zhu adds.
The study appears in the journal Neuron
Source : ANI
Source of the & # 39; Picture: Shutterstock [19659015] Posted: July 8, 2018 2:39 pm
Source link
