Pawpaws could help fight cancer

A chemical found in the pawpaw could help scientists understand how to treat cancer, the BBC reports. Researchers at the University of Southampton, led by Dr Richard Brown, have just received a £100,000 grant from the Leverhulme Trust, which funds research, to develop the project. The chemicals in the seeds, fruits and twigs of pawpaws which could help treat cancer are found in very small amounts and will kill healthy cells as well as cancerous ones. The aim of research team at the University of Southampton is to develop a synthetic copy. Once that has been achieved, the scientists hope they will be able to locate what is toxic about the chemicals and change the molecular structure so the cancer cells, and not healthy ones, are targeted The research is aimed at furthering scientific understanding of how these chemicals work rather than being part of direct work on a particular drug.