Could gold be used to treat cancer of the brain?

Much media attention and financial investment is currently being put towards the development of potential new treatments for cancer and a team of doctors from the UK now believe gold could be used to treat tumours in the brain.

One of the team Dr Colin Watts explained: 'We need to be able to hit cancer cells directly with more than one treatment at the same time. This is important because some cancers are more resistant to one type of treatment than another.'


Gold may not be the first treatment that springs to mind when potential cancer cures are discussed, but this latest investigation found it was highly effective in killing cancerous cells.

To make this finding, scientists created microscopic pieces of gold that were four million times smaller than a single cross-section of human hair. They then coated these with cisplatin, a common chemotherapy drug, before testing them on cancerous brain cells that had been extracted during surgery.


It was found that this treatment was effective in boosting radiotherapy and chemotherapy, meaning the chances of the cancer being killed were significantly higher.

Radiotherapy helped to trigger the release of electrons within the metal, meaning the cancer's DNA was broken down, preventing cells from replicating. This also helped to release chemotherapy, weakening the tumour and encouraging diseased cells to die.

After 20 days of this treatment, there were no remaining cancerous cells in the samples, indicating this could be a highly effective method for fighting the disease.

In particular, doctors believe this method of treatment could be used to combat glioblastoma multiforme, which is a common form of brain cancer. Each year, more than 4,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with this condition. The majority die within five years of diagnosis due to the limited treatments available.

Professor Sir Mark Welland of Sir John's College, Cambridge, commented: 'This is a double-whammy effect and by combining this strategy with cancer cell-targeting materials, we should be able to develop therapy for glioblastoma and other challenging cancers in the future.'

Find the study hereADNFCR-554-ID-801741739-ADNFCR

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