You may not be aware that most of the medicines that have been approved for treatment are rooted in nature.

For example, the bark of willow trees has been called nature's aspirin because it contains a chemical called salicin. The human body converts salicin into salicylic acid, which relieves pain and fights fevers.

New research by William Chain, associate professor in the University of Delaware's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and his lab, uses a molecule found in a tropical fruit to offer hope in the fight against liver-related cancers, one of the world's top causes of cancer deaths.

Using a process called natural product total synthesis, Chain and his lab group have invented a pathway that uses widely available chemicals to create molecules found in a guava plant that are known to fight these deadly cancers. The work was published in one of the leading chemistry publications, the international journal Angewandte Chemie.

The research provides scientists around the world with an easy and low cost method to create large amounts of the naturally-occurring molecules, and opens doors to more effective and cheaper treatments.

"The majority of clinically approved medicines are either made from a natural product or are based on one," Chain said. "But there aren't enough natural resources to make enough treatments. Now chemists will be able to take our manuscripts and basically follow our 'recipe' and they can make it themselves."

The discovery invites collaboration with scientists around the world.

"We are the first ones to pave that road, and other people can repave it any which way. Find the shortcuts if they have to. But since we entered into that unknown territory, I think we helped shed light on this unknown pathway that can get us there. And I think that's the cool part," said Liam O'Grady, doctoral student in Chain's lab and the article's first author.

The potential impact is enormous. The number of liver and bile duct cancer cases has grown dramatically in recent years, with one in 125 men and women globally projected to be diagnosed with hepatocellular cancer over the course of their lives.

In the United States, chemotherapies for liver cancers are a multi-billion-dollar health burden and the current five-year survival rates for late-stage liver cancers are under 15%. In 2025 in the US alone, more than 42,000 people will be diagnosed and over 30,000 will lose their battle.

The team is working with the National Cancer Institute on the next steps for the process, and whether the guava molecule may be effective in fighting other types of cancers.

Read more …Guava’s secret molecule could fight liver cancer

Everybody develops presbyopia as they age - a difficulty in focusing on near objects and text - and often have to resort to reading glasses. However, the solution might be as simple as using special eye drops two or three times a day.

A retrospective study of 766 patients presented on September 14 at the 43rd Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) [1], found that the majority could read an extra two, three or more lines on the eye chart used for testing near visual acuity (the Jaeger chart) after using specially formulated eye drops. This improvement was sustained for up to two years.

Dr Giovanna Benozzi, director of the Center for Advanced Research for Presbyopia, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, said: "We conducted this research due to the significant unmet medical need in presbyopia management. Current solutions such as reading glasses or surgical interventions have limitations, including inconvenience, social discomfort, and potential risks or complications. There is a group of presbyopia patients who have limited options besides spectacles, and who are not candidates for surgery; these are our primary focus of interest. We sought to provide robust clinical evidence supporting an innovative pharmacological solution to offer patients a non-invasive, convenient and effective alternative."

The eye drops, developed by Dr Benozzi's father, the late Dr Jorge Benozzi of the same centre, contain a combination of two active agents: pilocarpine, a drug that constricts the pupils and contracts the ciliary muscle, which is a muscle controlling the eye's accommodation for seeing objects at varying distances, and diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that reduces inflammation and the discomfort that pilocarpine often causes.

Patients administered the eye drops twice a day, usually on waking and again approximately six hours later, with an optional third dose if symptoms recurred or additional visual comfort was needed. The group of patients (373 women and 393 men, with an average age of 55) were divided into three groups to receive one of three eye drop formulations. Each formulation had a fixed dose of diclofenac but concentrations of pilocarpine were 1%, 2% and 3%.

The researchers assessed the improvement in how well patients could read the Jaeger chart without reading glasses (uncorrected near visual acuity) one hour after the first administration of the drops, and they followed up the patients for two years.

Dr Benozzi told the Congress: "Our most significant result showed rapid and sustained improvements in near vision for all three concentrations. One hour after having the first drops, patients had an average improvement of 3.45 Jaeger lines. The treatment also improved focus at all distances.

"Impressively, 99% of 148 patients in the 1% pilocarpine group reached optimal near vision and were able to read two or more extra lines. Approximately 83% of all patients maintained good functional near vision at 12 months. Importantly, no significant adverse events like increased intraocular pressure or retinal detachment were observed."

In the 2% group, 69% of 248 patients were able to read three or more extra lines on the Jaeger chart, and in the 3% group, 84% of 370 patients could read three or more extra lines.

The improvement in the patients' vision was sustained for up to two years, with a median duration of 434 days. Adverse side effects were mild, with the most common being temporary dim vision, which occurred in 32% of cases, irritation when the drops were instilled (3.7%) and headache (3.8%). No patients discontinued the treatment.

Common adverse side effects of pilocarpine can also include eye redness, watery eyes, blurred vision, dim or dark vision, sensitivity to light or problems changing focus between objects, seeing flashes of light or "floaters" in vision, and, in rare cases, detached retinas.

Dr Benozzi continued: "Nearly all patients experienced positive improvements in near visual acuity, although the magnitude of the improvement depended on the status of their vision before treatment at baseline. Our study revealed that optimal pilocarpine concentrations could be individualized depending on the baseline severity of presbyopia as assessed by the initial Jaeger scores. Patients with less severe presbyopia responded best to 1% concentrations, while those with more advanced presbyopia required higher 2% or 3% concentrations to achieve significant visual improvement."

She concluded: "These results suggest this combination therapy offers a safe, effective, and well-tolerated alternative to traditional presbyopia management. It significantly reduces dependence on reading glasses, providing a convenient, non-invasive option for patients, although these eye drops may not eliminate the need for glasses in all individuals.

"Importantly, this treatment is not intended to replace surgical interventions, but rather to serve as a valuable solution for patients who need safe, effective, and personalised alternatives and seek freedom from the inconvenience of eyewear. Eye care professionals now have an evidence-based pharmacological option that expands the spectrum of presbyopia care beyond glasses and surgery."

Besides the group of patients in this study, Dr Benozzi has other patients who have received the treatment for more than ten years. Dr Benozzi plans further research to measure improvements in patients' quality of life, and to explore the underlying physiological mechanisms of the eye drops.

Strengths of the study include the large number of patients included and the long follow-up time. It is the first systematic evaluation comparing three different pilocarpine concentrations in combination with diclofenac. A limitation is that it is a retrospective, single-centre study, which could limit the generalizability of the findings and introduce selection bias.

ESCRS President-Elect, Professor Burkhard Dick, chair of the ophthalmology department at the University Eye Hospital Bochum, Germany, was not involved in the research. He commented: "While surgery for age-related near vision loss has advanced, some patients are not candidates. The single-centre retrospective study by Dr Benozzi suggests that eye drops containing pilocarpine and diclofenac may improve near vision for up to two years, but the limited design means the results may not apply to everyone. Long-term pilocarpine use can sometimes cause side effects such as reduced night vision, dimmer vision in low light, eye strain, irritation and, in rare cases, retinal detachment, while prolonged topical NSAID use may pose corneal risks. Broader, long-term, multi-centre studies are needed to confirm safety and effectiveness before this treatment can be widely recommended."

Notes

  1. Abstract number: ESCRS25-FP-3944, 'Dose-dependent efficacy and safety of pilocarpine-diclofenac eye drops for presbyopia: a real-world single-center study," by Giovanna Benozzi et al. Free paper session on 'Miscellaneous topics in cataract and refractive surgery', 16:30-18:00 hrs CEST, Sunday, September 14, https://pag.virtual-meeting.org/escrs/escrs2025/en-GB/pag/presentation/570375[1]
Read more …Daily eye drops could make reading glasses obsolete

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