Scientists might have accidentally made a huge step forward in the search for a cure for cancer -discovering unexpectedly that a malaria protein could be an effective weapon against the disease.
Researchers at the University of Copenghagen were hunting for a way of protecting pregnant women from malaria, which can cause huge problems because it attacks the placenta. But they found at the same time that armed malaria proteins can attack cancer, too.
Scientists have combined the bit of protein that the malaria vaccine uses to bury into cells and combined it with a toxin -that can then bury into cancer cells and release the toxin, killing them off.
The scientists have found that in both cases the malaria protein attaches itself to the same carbohydrate. It is the similarities between those two things that the cure could exploit. The carbohydrate ensures that the placenta grows quickly. But the team behind the new findings have detailed how it serves the same function in tumours - and the malaria parasite attaches itself to the cancerous cells in the same way , meaning that it can kill them off.
Breast cancer drug fights superbugs
Researchers have found that a breast cancer drug gives white blood cells a boost, which may better enable them to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Treatment with the drug tamoxifen in mice also enhances clearance of the antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogen MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and reduces mortality.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/