Arsenic therapy for leukemia

Scientists have unravelled the paradox of how a carcinogenic poison can also act as a treatment for cancer. The discovery could lead to better uses for arsenic in therapies for leukaemia with fewer side effects.

Arsenic is a poisonous metalloid that has long been linked to an increased risk of cancers, diabetes, thickening of the skin, diseases of the liver and digestive complications. But, since the late 1700s, compounds of the metalloid have also been used to treat leukaemia. As drugs have improved, use of the metalloid has declined, though it is still used for a rare form called acute promyelocytic leukaemia.

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