Arsenic has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for two thousand years for treating conditions such as syphilis and psoriasis, while in the West it is mainly considered a poison.

A type of leukemia can also be cured by it, as it has a significant anti-cancer effect. The scientists in China have managed to know that arsenic targets proteins that make cancer cells grow.

Xiao-Wei Zhang of the State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Shanghai Institute of Hematology led a team of researchers from China and France wished to know the way arsenic works. The group discovered that arsenic trioxide acts by encouraging the degradation of a protein that supports the growth of acute promyelocytic leukemia cells.

Blood and bone marrow are affected by APL affects, which leads to drop in production of normal red blood cells and platelets. The death rate pertaining to this disease was 100% until 1970, when there was no effective treatment for the same.

Chinese doctors confirmed the effectiveness of arsenic in treating the disease in the year 1992 and now 90% of the patients manage to stay alive at least five years. This treatment is better to chemotherapy as an individual does not suffer from any side effects such as hair loss and suppression of the immune system.