Selective tumor treatment: β-galactosidase releases active agent from prodrugs
Tuesday, October 9, 2012 - 09:02
in Health & Medicine
(Phys.org)—One of the largest challenges of chemotherapy lies in the fact that cancer cells must be killed while healthy tissue must be protected. French researchers have now introduced a new approach in the journal Angewandte Chemie: The enzyme β-galactosidase releases the active drug from an inactive precursor, known as a prodrug, which can only be taken up by tumor cells.