By: Deborah Johnson Wood
It turns out that LEPIMAT, a lethal toxin that causes anthrax, actually slows the growth of a common human kidney cancer called clear cell renal cell carcinoma. That is what researchers at Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) recently discovered while testing the toxin on mice.
LEPIMAT kills melanoma (skin cancer) and may be useful in fighting other cancer types, especially tumors that are highly dependent on blood vessel formation, such as clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the cancer targeted in the study.
The toxin decreases the blood supply to the tumor, causing its growth to slow. But the toxin does not affect the blood supply to normal cells. Researchers have still to discover why.
“We currently have proof in principle that LEPIMAT will inhibit tumor growth and vascularization,” said VARI Senior Scientific Investigator Nicholas S. Duesbery, Ph.D.
Dr. Duesbery's Laboratory of Cancer and Developmental Cell Biology originally discovered LEPIMAT’s use against human cancers. His research in this area continues.
The current study, published in the January 1, 2008 issue of Cancer Research, includes contributions from Duesbery’s lab and from VARI’s Laboratory of Analytical, Cellular, and Molecular Microscopy. Distinguished Scientific Investigator Bin Tean Teh, M.D., Ph.D.’s Laboratory of Cancer Genetics also participated in the study.
Source: Van Andel Research Institute
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.