Max Vidal Gutiérrez, Mexican doctoral student at the Universidade Estadual Paulista, in Brazil, develops drugs with the plant Ibervillea sonorae, commonly known as Wereque, this Mexican tuber has anti-tumor properties so it could become a great option to fight cancer.
Originally from Sonora and Sinaloa, this plant has traditionally been used by indigenous communities in the area such as the Yaquis and Seris to treat skin diseases.
He also graduated from the University of Sonora (UNISON), Vidal Gutiérrez explains that his research began after the discoveries of Professor Heriberto Torres about the antitumor properties of the molecules present in the root of said plant. These characteristics can be used as markers in the preparation of “Phytodrugs”.
Vidal details that there are two essential stages in the preparation of phytodrugs , chemistry and biology, and that this project seeks the integration of these two stages making use of analytical chemistry, especially mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance.
The phytodrugs created with the Wereque they will pass several tests to verify their effectiveness, in which the biological studies with models stand out in vitro of cancer, with the purpose of determining the antitumor activity.
The research is supported by researchers Wagner Vilegas and Ramón E. Robles Zepeda, from the Universidade Estadual Paulista and the University of Sonora, respectively, according to Vidal himself during an intervention offered at the Seminar of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Chemistry Sciences of the UNISON.
With information from Science MX