That’s not a line for dramatic flair either.
A compound based on Iridium, one of the rarest elements on the face of the planet, is being praised this afternoon as possibly becoming the cure for cancer as British Scientists announced that blasting metal with a laser beam produces poisonous forms of oxygen that
The process is called photodynamic therapy (PDT) that when bounces off the metal, penetrates the tumor cells while destroying them from within with their own oxygen. During experiments with the metal, it showed it penetrated the nucleus of cancer cells by latching onto the blood protein albumin.
Professor Peter Sadler, from the Chemistry Department at Warwick University said, “If this technology can be translated into the clinic, it might be effective against resistant cancers and reduce side effects of chemotherapy.”
The next step in the research process would be animal trials. Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is already being used to treat a range of cancers, including skin, breast and lung.
Iridium came to earth when it landed in the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago and killed off over 70 percent of living species on the planet, including the dinosaurs.
