By: Prajwal Chandra, Marketing & Communication Manager at TORSKAL

#Gold, what does this word remind you of? We are sure it brought a picture of an elegant piece of gold jewelry to your mind. But what if we tell you that this very own metal is also being researched to treat cancer, the second leading cause of death worldwide, affecting more than half of the population.

Yes, you read it right! Gold, the bright metal is being researched to treat cancer in its nanoparticle form. You will be even more thrilled to know that gold has shown highly promising results leading to fewer side effects, earlier efficacy among others than current conventional cancer therapies, thanks to its unique physicochemical properties. Before we dig deep into this topic, let us briefly see the history of gold usage in medicine.

Ancient use of gold in medicine

“Gold is where you find it,” the saying goes, and gold was first discovered naturally, in rivers around the world. Because of its resistance to corrosion and oxidation, gold has been regarded to have an everlasting nature since its discovery. As a result, many ancient cultures in India, Egypt, and China used gold to seek longevity. At all times and in all places, from Egypt to Peru, man has adorned his palaces and temples with this timeless metal. It is estimated that since ancient times, between 130 and 150,000 tonnes of gold have been mined.

The first indication of gold being used to treat illness dates from 2500 BC in China by ancient Chinese physicians and surgeons, especially in case of fever, measles, or infection in general.

But the real use of gold in medicine in the western world started around 1300 AD with the discovery of aqua regia, a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids used to solubilize gold. Nicholas Culpepper, an English alchemist, prescribed a gold cordial for any condition produced by a drop in vital signs, such as melancholy, fainting, fevers, and falling sickness, by the mid-seventeenth century.

Now back to gold being used to treat cancer…

Gold nanoparticles (a small particle that ranges between 1 to 100 nanometres in size) are being studied as drug transporters, photothermal agents, contrast agents, and radiosensitizers, and are emerging as prospective cancer therapeutic agents.

Colloidal gold (colloidal suspension of nanoparticles of gold in a fluid, usually water) has been shown to have localized plasmon surface resonance (LPSR), which means that gold nanoparticles can absorb light at specific wavelengths, resulting in photoacoustic and photothermal properties, potentially making them useful for hyperthermic cancer treatments and medical imaging.

It is conceivable to passively distribute gold across the body, where it can localize in tumors and be safely eliminated through the urinary system, by synthesizing the material on a nanoscale. Clinical trials around the world have found that using gold nanoparticle technology-enhanced patients’ quality of life while also lowering the chance of harming healthy cells during therapy unlike chemotherapy (which kills both healthy and cancer cells leading to severe side effects), for various cancers. Adding to this, gold nanoparticles exhibit the following significant advantages when combined with photothermal therapy (PTT) in treating cancer.

• They can be delivered into the local tumor location while limiting non-specific distribution.
• They can be activated through near-infrared (NIR) laser light, allowing them to penetrate deep into biological tissues

“Just so you know, gold is also one of the most biocompatible metals. It will not cause any adverse or toxic reactions when coming in contact with the skin, tissue or internal organs.”

With such a positive and promising effect in the medical domain, the demand for gold has certainly surged and presents a significant opportunity for gold mining companies to play a major role in future global supply chains. And this is where initiative like Fairmined plays an important role not by just contributing to the global gold supply chain, but also the way these golds are mined.

Fairmined is an assurance label that certifies gold from empowered responsible artisanal and small-scale mining organizations that meet world-leading standards for responsible practices. It transforms mining into an active force for good, ensuring social development and environmental protection, providing everyone with a source of gold to be proud of.

One such client of Fairmined is TORSKAL, a French biotechnology company that is a “pioneer of green nanotechnology” designing disruptive gold nanoparticles by means of a patented and environmentally friendly process from green chemistry leveraging medicinal plant extracts from the Indian Ocean to treat various types of cancer.

“TORSKAL is also the only company in the world to design gold nanoparticles using ethical and responsible gold sourced from Fairmined”

The patented gold nanoparticles produced from TORSKAL using green chemistry have the following advantages in cancer therapy:

• Minimized side effects on patient’s body
• Single dose to destroy cancer cells
• Non-toxic as they are developed from green chemistry

Although the nanotechnology market is still emerging, many biotech companies are researching and progressing in this domain and TORSKAL is considered to be a successor bringing additional significant assets such as toxicity reduction, increased stability, monitoring, functionalized combination among others.

TORSKAL is making their way to the clinical trials with their Nanotheranostics Project (NT1) which aims at treating skin cancer using near-infrared (NIR) radiation-induced plasmonic phototherapy consisting of these gold nanoparticles will undergo clinical trials in 2022.

This surely is interesting right?!

In the next article, we shall see more in detail about TORSKAL’s advancements and about their research using their unique and patented gold nanoparticles to treat skin cancer and other deep cancer. We will also see how this highly capable metal (gold) brings in significant advantages over chemotherapy and other current cancer treatments.

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You can also write to: contact@torskal.com

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