-Caveat Lector- Print this article | Close this window Study says modified anthrax might fight cancer
January 15 2003 Anthrax, the bioterrorism agent that killed five people in 2001 and has frightened millions more, may be an effective cancer killer, according to new research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Genetically engineered anthrax protein - designed to activate only on contact with a chemical on the surface of malignant tumours - dramatically reduced and even eradicated cancers in tests on hundreds of mice, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. Thanks to the genetic engineering, the anthrax did not poison the mice. Three main types of tumours - soft-tissue fibrosarcoma, skin melanoma and lung carcinoma - responded to the anthrax protein, which is a key component of anthrax bacteria, said Dr Stephen Leppla, an NIH scientist and co-author of the study. In theory, the new toxin should work on all or almost all forms of cancer, he said. In trials on mice, a single customised anthrax-protein injection reduced the size of lung tumours an average of 65 per cent, Leppla reported, and soft tissue tumours 92 per cent. After two treatments, tumours were 86 per cent to 98 per cent smaller, respectively. Melanomas were 85 per cent smaller after one treatment; 92 per cent after two. After two anthrax injections, many tumours - including 88 per cent of soft-tissue fibrosarcomas in the mouth - "were completely eradicated", researchers reported. Tumour cells began dying just 12 hours after anthrax treatment began. The results suggest that there's a good use for one of nature's deadliest bacteria, said Dr Thomas Bugge, an NIH scientist and study co-author. "We are at a very early stage and it will take years before we are ready to try it in humans," he added. "I'm excited, but also cautious about the idea." For more than 20 years, cancer treatment researchers have been investigating some of the same toxins terrorists consider, including diphtheria and the nerve agent ricin. They produced nasty and sometimes fatal side effects, however. A diphtheria-derived anti-cancer agent is the only candidate to have gained federal approval. It's used as a cancer-fighting drug of last resort. In addition to yielding an effective new cancer toxin, the anthrax finding "revolutionises the field" by providing a new technique to keep the toxins from attacking healthy, non-cancer cells, said Dr Arthur Frankel, a leading cancer- toxin biologist. "It's the most important breakthrough in our field in the last 20 years," said Frankel, who was not involved in the study. In effect, the engineered anthrax can tell the difference between cancer cells and healthy ones. Normally, the deadly toxin in anthrax bacteria is activated when it finds furin, an enzyme in all living cells. Until then, it is like "grenades with the pins still inside them," Leppla said. Leppla and Bugge altered chemicals in the anthrax protein so it wouldn't be activated by furin, but only by an enzyme called urokinase, which is found on the outside of cancer cells. The anthrax toxin didn't harm skin or hair cells right next to the tumours, because they didn't have the urokinase enzyme on their surfaces, Leppla and Bugge said. KRT This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/14/ 1042520617095.html A<:>E<:>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article has to stand on its own merits. 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