• Question: how do you make anti cancer drugs with sugar?

    Asked by Mayonnaise Bees to Steven on 9 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by 678drug42.
    • Photo: Steven Street

      Steven Street answered on 9 Nov 2016:

      Hi Mayonnaise Bees!

      That’s a very simple question, with a very complicated answer!

      So there are many different types of sugar…. not just the one that you put in tea (that’s sucrose btw)!

      They range from simple sugars like glucose and mannose, through to very complex sugars like the lewis x antigen (and even more complex sugars!!) Some more useful information is here:

      http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/carbohydrates.html

      Sugars are known to play roles in cancer. Because cancer cells grow quickly, they need lots of energy, and so eat lots of glucose! (this is called the ‘warburg effect’). So if you add glucose to an anti-cancer drug, then they get taken to the cancer cells more than healthy cells!

      What I have done is to make new molecules that have a central flat part that sticks to DNA, and add simple sugars like glucose and mannose to them, which help the molecules to bind to certain DNA structures over others, and also help the molecules to go inside cells!

      A long answer to a short question, but it’s a very good question! Hopefully you understood my answer?

      Steve

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