CANCER
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
▸ Iron-based nanoparticles kill leukemia cells
Sea spray may spread pollutants from oceans to atmosphere
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An iron-covered nanoparticle could soon be used to treat a recalcitrant form of leukemia. Ferumoxytol, a drug already approved for treating anemia, seems to kill not only acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, but also the stem cells that give rise to them, according to a research team led by Jan Grimm of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Monica Guzman of Weill Cornell Medical College (Nat. Nanotechnol. 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41565019-0406-1). The team discovered the anticancer properties of the iron-coated nanoparticles while studying their possible use for drug delivery. They saw that in both a mouse model of leukemia and mice given transplants of human leukemic cells, treatment with ferumoxytol
Oceans have long been considered the final resting place of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), toxic and persistent pollutants that have been widely used for decades in firefighting foams and other products. New research suggests these chemicals may be less settled in seawater than previously thought. Scientists have investigated the transport of PFAAs from the sea F FF FF F to the atmosphere via sea-spray aeroOH F3C sols formed from breaking waves, but F F F F F F O these laboratory studies have struggled to realistically replicate sea spray. Perfluorooctanoic acid Now, using artificial seawater and a plunging water jet to create bubbles, Perfluorooctanoic acid is researchers at Stockholm Universiamong the most prominent ty found that PFAAs are enriched in perfluoroalkyl pollutants sea-spray aerosol by up to a factor of that may be transported 62,000 relative to bulk artificial seainto the atmosphere by seaspray aerosol. water (Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts 2019, DOI: 10.1039/c8em00525g). They estimate, in modeling studies, that more than 100 metric tons of each of two prominent pollutants, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), may be emitted annually into the atmosphere by sea spray. For comparison, industrial sources in China emit about 1–1.4 t of PFOS into the air annually, according to current estimates. The team plans to improve its estimates of PFAAs in sea spray by studying natural seawater on a research cruise later this year.—TIEN NGUYEN
DIAGNOSTICS
C R E D I T: S H UT T E RSTO CK
SATYANARAYANA
A nurse who smelled her husband’s Parkinson’s disease (PD) even before he was diagnosed has helped researchers in the UK identify four biomarkers of the disease (ACS Cent. Sci. 2019, DOI: 10.1021/ acscentsci.8b00879). These compounds, isolated from skin secretions, could help researchers develop a new diagnostic tool for PD before motor symptoms develop. Joy Milne is a supersmeller, someone with an extremely sensitive sense of smell.
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reduced the number of circulating leukemic cells. The team proposes that some leukemic cells express low levels of an iron transporter called ferroportin, so they cannot regulate iron metabolism as well as healthy cells. Treatment with ferumoxytol floods the cancer cells with iron, leading to production of hydroxide and hydroperoxide radicals—products of the Fenton reaction. The radicals contribute to oxidative stress and eventual cell death. Guzman and Grimm say AML is hard to cure and a drug that seems to kill leukemic stem cells could be a welcome addition to current therapies. The team is now planning a clinical trial.—MEGHA
▸ Sniffing out Parkinson’s
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Scientists have found that an ironcontaining nanoparticle kills acute myeloid leukemia cells (shown above) and believe that the drug, ferumoxytol, might eventually be an additional treatment for the recalcitrant cancer.
After Milne’s husband, Les, was diagnosed with PD in 1986, Milne realized that Les’s “musky” smell was one he shared with other people with PD. Working with Milne, Perdita Barran’s team at the University of Manchester used gas chromatography– mass spectrometry to isolate four chemicals that were present in different amounts in the skin sebum of PD patients compared with people who did not have PD. Milne confirmed that a mix of those chemicals in specific proportions smells like PD.—LAURA HOWES
Octadecanal
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O Hippuric acid APRIL 1, 2019 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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