Using Anthrax To Fight Cancer

StarEmperor writes "According to this BBC news article, scientists have used a version of the anthrax toxin to kill tumors in mice. The toxin was so effective that after just one treatment tumours were reduced in size by up to 92%."

Comments

Re:Effectiveness

[Big Sean O]

Paracelsus said "The Dose Makes the Poison". When you're talking Toxicology, there's all different kinds of reasons.

• The toxin may be excreted before it can be effective
  
• The toxin may be competing with a 'good' material (for instance, giving Carbon Monoxide victims Oxygen in large quantities helps reduce the effects of CO).
  
• Natural flora. Our gut is infested with a broad spectrum of bacteria and microscopic critters. The homeostatic mixture of these 'bugs' keeps us healthy. When we get stomach virus or eat some bad meat, our natural flora gets disrupted and we get a 'bad poo day'.
  
• The cells that make up our body vary in different types of proteins in the cell membrane. Our genes express different proteins in different cells (that's what essentially makes the difference between a brain cell and a muscle cell). When a strange protein enters the body, some won't have the right combination of defending proteins. The cells which do have the proper 'antibodies' will succeed and reproduce.
  

That's the real reason that getting rid of cancer is so hard. In radiation or chemotherapy, you are trying to hit on the right combination of poison that will kill the cancer cells and leave the 'normal' cells alone. Some of the normal cells (like hair cells) do get wiped out.

The Human Genome and the Folding At Home projects both very exciting because we're learning which genes make which proteins and which proteins work where. The more we understand the 'machine', the more likely we can turn it off, rather than smash it with a hammer...

Sheesh, another biology lecture... Sorry, but you asked...