Cancer and viruses may someday find themselves blinded by the light of therapies based on recent Purdue University chemistry research.A team of scientists including Harry Morrison has developed a group of rhodium-based compounds that, when exposed to light, can kill tumor cells and deactivate a virus closely related to the West Nile and yellow fever viruses. Unlike the ordinary substances used for chemotherapy, these chemicals are not harmful to the body in general – they only become lethal to DNA when activated by light of a specific frequency. While therapies based on the discovery are likely many years away, the compounds could have potential as anticancer agents and for blood sterilization.
