World Hot Topics Blog
Bacteria that can help
fight cancer
New York, June 9 (IANS) A toxin secreted by a water and food-borne
bacterium that can cause lethal infections in persons with liver disease, has
the potential to prevent the growth of tumours, says a new study by
Northwestern Medicine scientists.
"A
toxin protein from the bacterium Vibrio vulnificus can inhibit tumour cell
growth by cutting the protein Ras," researchers said.
"Ras is important for cell proliferation
in cancer, so the toxin could potentially be developed as a treatment for
different types of tumours," said one of the researchers Karla Satchell,
professor in microbiology-immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School
of Medicine in the US. World Hot Topics Blog
"The
bacterium uses the MARTX (multifunctional-autoprocessing repeats-in-toxin)
toxin protein to inactivate Ras, increasing its own virulence and allowing it
to spread throughout the host," the study said.
"It
has been known that Ras has a role in cancer development and targeting Ras has
been one of the hardest challenges of cancer research and drug discovery,"
Satchell said.
The
findings appeared in the journal Nature Communications.
This World Hot Topics Blog is Originally from here :
https://in.news.yahoo.com/bacteria-help-fight-cancer-100404790.html
