Scientists Discover Sea Coral with Chemicals that can help in Cancer Treatment

Thanusri swetha J May 26, 2022 | 11:30 AM Technology

Scientists and researchers around the world are constantly trying to find treatment of cancer. Now, they may have just stumbled upon a solution that can help treat the disease. Researchers at the University of Utah Health have discovered a soft coral that releases the cancer-treating chemical, eleutherobin. This could be a giant leap in the field of cancer drug studies. Researchers have been hunting the source of this natural chemical for almost 25 years. The DNA of these flexible corals can be studied to understand how it releases the chemical. This will allow researchers to re-create the soft coral chemical compound in the laboratory. [1]

Figure 1. Scientists Discover Sea Coral with Chemicals that can help in Cancer Treatment

Figure 1 shows these chemicals have anti-inflammatory agents, antibiotics, and more. The possibility of synthetic production of these chemical compounds opens up opportunities for their production in large amounts. This could possibly lead to a new tool to treat cancer. [2]

Corals launch their chemical compounds in order that predators can ingest the compound and never hurt the corals. The gentle coral chemical compounds are simply digestible. Therefore, the medicine derived from them might be administered as water-soluble capsules.

So as to have the ability to re-create eleutherobin within the laboratory, scientists wanted to check the DNA of soppy corals. Nonetheless, it was a troublesome course of to establish and confirm that a part of the gentle coral DNA that may show that it’s the supply of eleutherobin. [3]

The next step was to find out whether the coral's genetic code carried instructions for making the compound. Advances in DNA technology had recently made it possible to rapidly piece together the code of any species. The difficulty was, the scientists didn't know what the instructions for making the chemical should look like. Imagine searching a cookbook for a certain recipe, only you don't know what any of the words inside the book mean.

"It's like going into the dark and looking for an answer where you don't know the question," remarks Schmidt. [4]

References:
  1. https://newslogic.in/technology/scientists-discover-sea-coral-with-chemicals-that-can-help-in-cancer-treatment/
  2. https://gadgets360.com/science/news/scientists-discover-sea-coral-cancer-treatment-chemicals-university-of-utah-health-3007589
  3. https://tech.sarkari-job-wale.in/scientists-discover-sea-coral-with-chemicals-that-can-help-in-cancer-treatment/
  4. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220523115509.htm
Cite this article:

Thanusri swetha J (2022), Scientists Discover Sea Coral with Chemicals that can help in Cancer Treatment, Anatechmaz, pp. 330