Putting statins out of business?
But the Israeli team finds it could work in heart disease as well: iron corroles are also able to provide reversal effects of arterial sclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, says Gross. With a different mode of action than gallium corroles, "We took mice prone to develop arterial sclerosis and treated them with the same family of compounds. It's a very potent antioxidant," he says. "It's interfering with the process causing arterial sclerosis."
"We already know about green tea, red wine, or pomegranate," he explains, noting that his innovation is better than natural antioxidants that at same stage can also attack vital biomolecules. The therapy was shown to work in successful pre-clinical studies, while the medicinal value of corroles, says Gross, was something his Technion lab initiated 10 years ago.
"We discovered how to synthesize corroles and are the main people pushing forward the fundamentals of science," says Gross, noting the applications are wide and three-fold in catalysis, in medicine, and in renewable energy.
Funding for the research was provided by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, the National Science Foundation in the US, the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Defense, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Donna and Jesse Garber Award, the Gurwin Foundation, and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
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