Tests have shown that a new cancer drug, FY26, is 49 times more potent than the clinically used treatment Cisplatin.
Based on a compound of the rare precious metal osmium and developed by researchers at the University of Warwick’s Department of Chemistry and the Warwick Cancer Research Unit, FY26 is able to shut down a cancer cell by exploiting weaknesses inherent in their energy generation.
The researchers argue that the drug could be cheaper to produce, less harmful to healthy cells than existing treatments and has been shown to be active against cancer cells which have become resistant to platinum-based drugs.
The experiments conducted by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute comprising 809 cancer cell lines found that FY26 was 49 times more potent than cisplatin. Similar results were obtained by the National Cancer Institute USA in tests conducted on 60 cell lines.
The new drug works by forcing cancer cells to use their mitochondria, the ‘power house’ of a cell, to generate the energy necessary to function. Whilst healthy cells use mitochondria to generate energy, cancer cells contain defective mitochondria which are incapable of sustaining the cell’s energy requirements.
The research, supported by the European Research Council and titled Potent organo-osmium compound shifts metabolism in epithelial ovarian cancer cells, is published by PNAS. The paper describes the comprehensive systems biology approach used to elucidate the mechanism of osmium action of FY26, led by PhD student Jess Hearn. Importantly this analysis also pinpointed 3 mutations in the mitochondrial DNA of ovarian cancer cells.
Following the successful test results the researchers have been awarded a Wellcome Trust Pathfinder grant to begin preclinical development of organo-osmium compounds.
