(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) The effective treatment of many forms of cancer continues to pose a major problem for medicine.

Many tumors fail to respond to standard forms of chemotherapy or become resistant to the medication. Scientists at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig, the Hannover Medical School and Leibniz-Universität in Hanover have now discovered a chemical mechanism with which a natural substance -- argyrin -- destroys tumors.

Today, the researchers publish their findings in the renowned scientific journal Cancer Cell.