A Potential Nobel Prize Winner: the “Miners” in the Medical World of China

Nobel prizes this year come at the same time as previous years, however, unlike pervious years, there have been disputes over Chen Lieping et al. not winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this year, especially Chinese people have been a little upset because no Chinese won any prize. However, by taking a close look at it, China does not lack research achievements at Nobel prize level, for example, Zhang Tingdong, a "miner" in the medical world who has researched the "cancer treatment with arsenic trioxide", is considered as a candidate for Nobel prize. I don’t want to express too much regret about Zhang Tingdong’s not winning the Nobel prize, however, I’d like to talk about the mineral drugs with Chinese characteristics here.

Mineral drugs are a kind of important TCM, including natural minerals, fossils, processed minerals, and chemical products of minerals, which have long been used in China, for example, the Classic of Mountains and Seas in the Spring and Autumn period already recorded mineral drugs such as cinnabar and arsenic trioxide; the Prescriptions for Fifty-two Diseases unearthed from Mawangdui recorded 21 mineral drugs such as realgar and cinnabar; The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica recorded 44 mineral drugs; the Newly Revised Materia Medica of Tang Dynasty and Classified Materia Medica of Song Dynasty separately recorded 55 and 139 mineral drugs. And the Compendium of Materia Medica of Ming Dynasty and Supplement to Compendium of Materia Medica of Qing Dynasty separately recorded up to 222 and 260 mineral drugs. We can see from the foregoing that mineral drugs have been playing an important role in drugs of China.

Here I’d like to further talk about several representative mineral drugs. Firstly, the arsenic trioxide, the "king of poisons": this drug mainly contains As₂O₃, and is often referred to as arsenic sublimate and Hedinghong, etc. As is known to all, arsenic trioxide is highly toxic and can cause bleeding, liver damage, respiratory failure, and even death after entering bodies, however, arsenic trioxide plays a big role in the treatment of many diseases as a drug, and besides China, many countries have a long history using it. For example, the well-known Greek physician Hippocrates ever used arsenic trioxide to treat diseases; Australian farmers in the 19^th century strengthened their bodies through intake of a certain dose of arsenic trioxide. Arsenic trioxide has been used to treat malaria, chronic bronchitis, lymphatic tuberculosis, and tumor, etc. in China, wherein, it is most effective in treating acute myeloid leukemia, with incomparable advantages over other drugs. And Zhang Tingdong is the founder of treating leukemia with arsenic trioxide, and is thus considered as the "person closest to Nobel prize".

Secondly, cinnabar, also known as cinnabarite, is a drug with mercury sulfide as the main ingredient. In terms of efficacy, cinnabar has sedative and hypnotic effects, and can also be used for detoxification, and inhibition or killing of bacteria or parasites. Its efficacy recorded in TCM includes: clearing away the heart fire, relieving convulsion, soothing the nerves, detoxifying, and using for palpitation, skittishness, insomnia and dreamful sleep, epilepsy and delirium, dim eyes, oral ulcer, pharyngitis, sore and ulcer, pyogenic infections, distraction, palpitation and insomnia, epilepsy, infantile convulsion, swelling pain, swelling and pain in throat, and mouth and tongue sore, etc.

Furthermore, other mineral drugs people are familiar with also include the snake-away medicine often mentioned in TV—realgar which has also been used to treat diseases like cancer and scabies, and also gypsum, mirabilite, and sulfur, etc., which are all often mentioned TCM and have played an important role in human drug treatment history. Just imagine: if all the "miners" of those mineral drugs were alive in China, including the "medical sage" Zhang Zhongjing, and "pharmacological sage" Li Shizhen, etc., they would surely be popular candidates for Nobel prize! And now we also have the modern "miner" Zhang Tingdong! China does not lack candidates for Nobel prize, and we can still be confident about the research in China!

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