Shillong, September 4: A team of international scientists, including alumnus Amit Dubey from Allahabad University (AU), has uncovered a potential anti-cancer compound derived from tobacco leaves that may combat various forms of cancer.
As per IANS, this discovery is particularly notable because tobacco use is a significant contributor to cancer-related deaths worldwide, responsible for a quarter of such fatalities, especially lung cancer.
The research, conducted by Amit Dubey, Indian scientist Aisha Tufail, and Malaysian researchers Miah Roney and Prof A K M Moyeenul Huq, has been published in the “Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics,” a publication of Taylor & Francis Ltd in the UK.
The study identifies a specific anti-cancer compound called “4-[3-Hydroxyanilino]-6,7-Dimethoxyquinazoline” that can be extracted from tobacco leaves. Remarkably, this compound exhibits no apparent side effects.
Amit Dubey explained, “The proliferation, survival, adhesion, migration, and differentiation of cancer cells are all significantly influenced by the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is present in the walls of tumor cells. They depend on this protein for their survival and growth.”
The research team adopted a collaborative approach to screen drug bank compounds targeting the EGFR protein. They accessed the compound found in tobacco leaves from the drug bank, an online database maintained by the University of Alberta and the Metabolomics Innovation Centre in Alberta, Canada.
Amit Dubey currently serves as a senior scientist at Quanta Calculus Pvt Ltd in Greater Noida.