Salmonella a success story vs. cancer cells
Local researchers have found a shocking way to turn the culprit behind food-borne bellyaches into a potential lifesaver — using Salmonella to attack chemotherapy- resistant cancer cells.
Scientists at UMass Medical School made the surprise discovery while studying inflammation caused by the bacteria, which is transported through contaminated food and water. While it usually causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, it contains a protein that makes highly evolved cancers more vulnerable to treatment.
“The results are just phenomenal,” said Dr. Regino Mercado-Lubo, a postdoctoral fellow and first author of a new study published in Nature Communication. “If this technique becomes a success, we would give patients with cancer a better chance of survival.”
Mercado-Lubo and his colleagues found that mice with colon and breast cancer saw dramatic reduction in tumors after they were injected with the Salmonella protein.
“We never thought about using something like Salmonella, which is a pathogen, to use its abilities that usually get us sick,” he said. “We’re using some of that to improve a common problem in chemotherapies we use.”
The mice received abdominal injections of tiny gold nanoparticles containing the protein. After 30 days, the tumors were nearly undetectable, MercadoLubo said.
For decades, scientists have been trying to target these so-called “efflux pumps” that regurgitate the chemotherapy treatments, said Beth A. McCormick, vice chairwoman and professor of microbiology & physiological systems, and the study’s principal investigator.
And because Salmonella has been around for so long, it makes it an especially good candidate for this type of therapy.
“We have a Salmonella organism that has been coevolving with us for 2 million years,” she said. “We have the precedence of nature on our side.”
Efflux pumps also contribute to the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria, or “superbugs,” which cannot be treated with even the strongest medications.
There has been some “early interest” from biotechnology companies on developing a drug to be taken in conjunction with chemo, they said, but further research needs to be done to make the protein delivery system more precise and expand the types of cancers that can be targeted.
The research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Worcester Foundation, as well as the university’s research centers.