Combining anthrax toxin proteins and chemotherapy drugs could create a highly effective cancer therapy with the potential to reduce or eliminate tumors, according to new findings that will appear this week in the early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Proteins from Bacillus anthracis — the bacterium responsible for anthrax — can be engineered to subdue the growth of cancerous tumors. Scientists from divisions of the National Institutes of Health were able to uncover the mechanisms behind the proteins' anti-cancerous capabilities in mouse models.
In the study, researchers determined that the anthrax toxin proteins diminish tumors by targeting cells lining the inner walls of the blood vessels that feed the tumor, thusly prohibiting the cells from reproducing. Because the proteins target the host blood cells and not the tumor, researchers suggest this could allow the treatment to be effective across a range of cancers.
While anthrax proteins have been shown to combat cancer, they also produce an immune response in the body which can render additional courses of the treatment inept. By using a regimen of chemotherapy drugs, researchers were able to block the antibodies that neutralize the anthrax proteins.
The authors suggested that the anti-tumor effects of these proteins are worthy of further study.
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