Pub. 3 2013 Issue 1

12 At the Center of Utah Industry The family of drugs that was developed was called nitrogen mustard drugs. Unfortunately, they killed all rapidly dividing cells indiscriminatingly, including cells in the hair follicles, digestive system, and bone marrow. In other words, the results were typical of chemotherapy’s common side effects. Doctors don’t use nitrogen mustards much anymore. It could be used in chemical warfare, for one thing, which means military people in particular don’t want to make it readily available; in addition, doctors have developed other closely related medicines for use during chemotherapy: • Cyclop hosphamide: for cancer and immune diseases. • Chlorambucil: for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. • U r a m u s t i n e : f o r l y m p h a t i c malignancies such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. • fosfamide: for several different cancers, such as testicular, breast, lymphoma (Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s), soft tissue sarcoma, bone cancer, lung cancer, cervical cancer, and ovarian cancer. • Melphalan: for multiple myeloma and ovarian cancer; sometimes it is used to treat malignant melanoma. • B e n d a m u s t i n e : f o r c h r o n i c l y m p h o c y t i c l e u k e m i a a n d lymphomas. Researchers think it might also be a possible treatment for sarcoma. • Estramustine: for prostate cancer. We have all of these drugs because of coal mining. The trend today is to find drugs whose effect on patients is not as devastating as these traditional chemotherapy drugs. The new drugs attack cancer in different ways. Instead of inhibiting cell growth, which doesn’t always work, these chemicals attack cancer in other ways. For example, dichloroacetate targets some kinds of oxygen-starved tumor cells. Although it is promising, it has not yet been approved for use as a cancer drug. However, scientists have proven that it shrinks tumors in rats, is relatively safe, doesn’t cost a lot of money, and is readily available in convenient pill form. Dichloroacetate is produced from coal byproducts. People tend not to realize how much mining benefits us every day. However, its influence is pervasive. No matter what new drugs are developed, it is likely that we will get them out of mines. After all, coal tar derivatives can sometimes be used as pain killers— that’s where we get acetaminophen—and they are also used to treat problems such as psoriasis and other skin and scalp diseases. Tiny little seeds of radioactive palladiumare proving to be a useful treatment for both prostate and breast cancer, because the amount of radiation used is small, mostly affects the cancer cells and does not require removal of the palladiumafterward. Similar research is being done with gold particles. Nobody knows what scientists will come up with in the future, but the goal is certainly to develop gentle, effective treatments that will be orders of magnitude better than anything we’ve done in the past. And it will all begin with mining. X continued from page 11 The new drugs attack cancer in different ways. Instead of inhibiting cell growth, which doesn’t always work, these chemicals attack cancer in other ways.