They test the star drug against breast cancer

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A group of scientists from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), headed by José Correa Basurto, is working on the development of more specific drugs that treat breast cancer without affecting or having side effects in normal cells.

In the country, the leading cause of death in women is this tumor. This is why it is necessary to find new alternatives to treat it and reduce the mortality rate which, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), was 16 deaths per 100,000 women aged 20 and over.

Professor and Researcher at the School of Medicine (ESM), Benjamín García Vázquez, explained that to obtain more specific drugs, biomarkers are identified overexpressed in breast cancer cell lines.

For now, they have a "star drug" tested in cell lines with activity similar to that of commercial drugs, but with greater specificity for carcinogenic lines compared to healthy cells. "If all goes well, we expect to have a new drug in five or eight years," he said.

He added that they used bioinformatic tools in the design of libraries of potentially anticancer compounds. "Based on the bioinformatic analysis, the five best evaluated are selected to be synthesized because they will probably have the best anticancer activity, which saves time and resources."

The evaluation in the silica includes studies on molecular coupling, docking, to simulate the most favorable energy binding mode of the compounds with the therapeutic target. "We are simulating molecular coupling and molecular dynamics studies and evaluating the physicochemical and toxicological properties of compounds," he said.

With the support of master's and doctoral students, the synthesis, purification and characterization by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS / MS) of the compounds are carried out at the laboratory of development of new drugs and biotechnological products of the MY. evaluated by in silico methods.

Once synthesized, they evaluate its possible anticarcinogenic activity in in vitro tests on breast cancer cell lines and determine whether they could be potential candidates for developing drugs in the future.