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Anti-cancer drug derived from fungus shows promise in clinical trials
- panabee 5y agoSummary: The naturally-occurring nucleoside analogue known as Cordycepin (a.k.a 3’-deoxyadenosine) is found in the Himalayan fungus Cordyceps sinensis and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years to treat cancers and other inflammatory diseases. However, it breaks down quickly in the blood stream, so a minimal amount of cancer-destroying drug is delivered to the tumour. In order to improve its potency and clinically assess its applications as a cancer drug, biopharmaceutical company NuCana has developed Cordycepin into a clinical therapy, using their novel ProTide technology, to create a chemotherapy drug with dramatically improved efficacy. Paper: https://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2021/09/08/1078-0432.CCR-21-1652 https://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2021/09... Related article: https://newatlas.com/medical/himalayan-fungus-compound-potent-cancer-treatment/ https://newatlas.com/medical/himalayan-fungus-compound-poten... Nucleoside Wikipedia definition: Nucleosides are glycosylamines that can be thought of as nucleotides without a phosphate group. A nucleoside consists simply of a nucleobase (also termed a nitrogenous base) and a five-carbon sugar (ribose or 2'-deoxyribose) whereas a nucleotide is composed of a nucleobase, a five-carbon sugar, and one or more phosphate groups.