Ruthenium As Cancer Treatment
Cancer research has been in full-swing for many years, and scientists are on a constant hunt for treatments and cures. Recently, studies show ruthenium, a metal located near gold and platinum on the period table of elements, to be effective in treating secondary cancer cells.
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Features
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Ruthenium, atomic number forty-four on the periodic table of elements, is a hard, white metal. It is an effective hardener for platinum and palladium.
Ruthenium and Cisplatin
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Ruthenium is combined with cisplatin, a platinum-based drug used to kill cancer cells, to more successfully target and destroy secondary tumors.
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Secondary Tumors
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Ruthenium compounds target secondary tumors, also called metastases, which form when cancer cells spread to other parts of the body from the original cancerous tumor.
Curing Tumors
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Testing conducted by Dyson resulted in the cure of 60 percent of secondary lung tumors with the combination of ruthenium and cisplatin.
More Research
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A more recent study by the universities of Warwick and Leeds, and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, has shown ruthenium to significantly destroy cancer cells in ovarian and colon cancer.
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References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
