Someday SB-3CT might save your life. The collection of letters
and numbers is chemical shorthand for a novel compound that has
shown promise in stopping cancer spread and lessening the effects
of a stroke.
Designed and synthesized by Notre Dame Professor of Chemistry
and Biochemistry Shahriar Mobashery and his colleagues, the compound
has the ability to inhibit two enzymes, MMP-2 and MMP-9 (MMP is
short for matrix metalloproteinase), which have been implicated
in metastasis, the mechanism of cancer spread, and in brain tissue
death due to stroke.
In cancer, the enzymes appear integral to the process that causes
some tumor cells to begin "chewing up" their surrounding matrix,
allowing them to break into the body's circulatory systems and
migrate to other organs and establish secondary tumors. While
its precise function in strokes is unclear, MMP-9 has been implicated
in damage to the brain when blood flow to the brain is interrupted
during a stroke. In tests with animal models for cancer, SB-3CT
has shown success in significantly slowing metastasis, Mobashery
says. Likewise, in animal model tests for stroke the compound
has significantly lessened damage.
(April 2005)
