Treatment of hypertension and diabetes, which causes cancer and very risky diseases that cause the death of millions of people every year, is very important. Studies conducted by researching natural resources on this subject play an important role in the treatment of diseases. At Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University, natural drug candidates that can be used in cancer, diabetes and hypertension treatments were produced from sea snails.
“WE REVEACH CANDIDATES FOR MANY DISEASES”
Ondokuz Mayıs University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology. Dr. Deniz Ekinci and his team announced that as a result of their work with the University of Limerick in Ireland, they produced natural drug candidates from sea snails that can be candidates for cancer, diabetes and hypertension treatments. Stating that they made new discoveries together with many experiments with their studies in the biotechnology laboratory, Prof. Dr. Deniz Ekinci said, “We are revealing drug candidates for many diseases, from cancer to hypertension, in our studies, especially in sea snails.”
STUDY CONDUCTED WITH IRELAND
Stating that they discovered the findings of drug candidates for many diseases, including cancer, in the sea snail study they carried out with the University of Limerick in Ireland, Prof. Dr. Deniz Ekinci said, “Our sea snail research is a research we conducted with Ireland and my PhD student Research Assistant Gürkan Bilir went to Ireland and worked. We produced peptides from sea snails. Peptides are small protein fragments. Peptides are used in therapy, pharmaceutical industry, cosmetics and food. They are natural substances used in the industry. Normally, we break down a protein contained in sea snails with digestive enzymes in the laboratory. In this way, we obtain short peptides. Then we examine their biological properties.
IT IS NEEDED TO CONTINUE TO PRODUCE NEW DRUGS
We determined that the peptides we obtained have much more biological activity than crude protein. As a result of this study, we have seen that the peptides we have obtained have properties such as anticancer, antihypertensive, antimicrobial and antioxidant. In this way, we produce more natural drug candidates than synthetic drugs. This is already a very up-to-date technology of recent years. As it is known, resistance to synthetic drugs can develop over time. For example, antibiotic resistance, which has been a huge problem in recent years. Therefore, you have to constantly produce new drugs. For this purpose, we aim to produce drugs with less side effects by using natural molecules as a source.”
DRUG RESEARCH TAKES LONG
Explaining how the research and studies are carried out, Prof. Dr. Deniz Ekinci said, “We have proven the antioxidant, antihypertensive and anticancer properties of the peptides we have obtained. Therefore, alternative natural drugs with lower toxicity will be produced thanks to this technology. We carry out our studies in this area. Because ocean and sea creatures live in more extreme conditions, they provide stronger biological signals than us. and they produce biomolecules. We also benefit from these properties. We isolate biomolecules from living things and make some modifications on them with biotechnological methods. In this way, we produce new drug candidates with molecules. First of all, we make our preliminary trials. After determining their biological properties and toxicity, we publish our results in scientific journals and continue “Then, different researchers conduct different studies. Then it is used in human experiments and phase studies. It can be used as a medicine later on,” he said.
Stating that they have been carrying out sea snail studies for 4 years, Prof. Dr. Deniz Ekinci stated that they have published the results of their research in the world’s most prestigious scientific journals in their field and that they continue to conduct research on sea snails and many other sea creatures.
(UAV)