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SALT LAKE CITY -- Scorpion venom as a cancer treatment! We brought that story a couple of years ago. Now, the poison of the scorpion is back; this time, with a partner that could make it even more effective in killing brain tumors.
We first got a glimpse of what the scorpion might do for cancer patients more than two years. The Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah was in the process of selecting five patients for this unique therapy, but the clinical trials were discontinued.
Human clinical trials might reopen again if the latest discovery from this creature proves to be true. Molecules pulled from scorpion toxin do in fact kill brain tumor, but researchers had difficulty getting the stuff to its target.
Dr. Randy Jensen, with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, said, "I would like to revisit that again, and I think some of the problems that have been experienced in a lot of drugs that we've tested is that they are not just delivered properly."
But scientists at the University of Washington have now found if you combine the scorpion molecule with nanoparticles, you cut the spread of cancer cells not by a mere 45 percent but by 98 percent.
Jensen said, "If they can get better delivery and get more efficacy of the delivery of the drug, then a new clinical trial, I'm sure, would be the next step after that."
A nanoparticle is a very small molecule that helps another molecule (such as one found in a drug) do a specific job. How small is small? A red blood cell is a teeny six microns. Thousands of nanoparticles could fit inside a single red blood cell.
Now imagine these nanoparticles as little bodyguards, transporters if you will, taking the drug anywhere you want it to go.
"These nanoparticles sort of shield them around, form circles around the drug that you want to deliver and allow it to pass through the blood-brain barrier," Jensen said.
Nanoparticles can lead a drug, such as one made from scorpion toxin, to specific cells. They can also image the drug, showing researchers exactly where it's going.
Researchers at the University of Washington experimented only with cells grown in the lab. They'll now move to mice to see if they get the same dramatic results there.
E-mail: eyeates@ksl.com
