Two wrongs rarely make a right , but scientist may have plant a means to make two nasty malady strike down each other out to produce a cure . By genetically modifying the bacterium responsible forsalmonellafood intoxication , investigator were able to change it into a tumor - busting arm with the capacity to destroy some of the most intemperately - to - treatbrain cancers .
Glioblastomais an exceedingly aggressive case of brain tumor that ca n’t be defeated with medications as the blood - brain roadblock prevents most chemical substance from reaching it . Because of this , endurance rates are extremely low for those diagnosed with the condition .
Yet some microbes can cross this barrier , so researchers at Duke University decided to use a detoxified rendering of the bacteriaSalmonella typhimuriumto strain and treat spongioblastoma in rats .
First , they genetically modify the bacterium to lack a crucial protein called purine , which find to be produced in abundance by tumor . This caused the microbes to flock to the website of the cancer in an endeavour to steal some of its purine .
However , the microbe had also been altered to release two compounds , the first of which – a protein called p53 – acts as a tumor suppressor , while the 2d , known as Azurin , causes cells to ego - destruct in conditions of low atomic number 8 . Since atomic number 8 point are always crushed at tumor land site , the cancerous jail cell were induced to die via a process shout caspase-mediated cell death .
The result of this experimentation have now been published in the journalMolecular Therapy – Oncolytics , and give away that the treatment led to 19 pct of git surviving for more than 100 days , which is the equivalent of 10 human twelvemonth .
In contrast , rats that did n’t receive treatment survived for an average of just 26 days .
While the technique only worked for around a fifth of the animals affect in the study , the result nevertheless represent a major breakthrough in the treatment of spongioblastoma . In astatement , study co - generator Johnathan Lyon explained that “ since glioblastoma is so aggressive and difficult to treat , any variety in the median survival of the fittest rate is a freehanded deal . ”
