Radioactive Microbes Nuke Tumor Cells
23rd April 2013
Despite the advances made against many types of cancer, pancreatic cancer remains grimly resistant to treatment. Only about 4% of patients survive for 5 years, mainly because of the disease’s vicious ability to metastasize, or spread to other parts of the body. Now, a group of researchers has hit upon a novel way to halt its spread: delivering radiation directly to the cancer cells using genetically modified bacteria. In a study of mice carrying human tumors, the therapy shrank the rodent’s primary tumors while sparing healthy tissue; it also blasted cancer cells that had spread throughout the animals, reducing their number by up to 90%.