January 17, 2017
Research is still in the experimental stage, but the results are encouraging. Salmonella bacteria could have a destructive effect on cancerous brain tumors.
Positive effects on rats
After the rat testing phases, scientists from Duke University behind the study are satisfied. 20% of the animals tested were better after the salmonella injection. And the other encouraging news is that the 80% of the rats in the experiment weren’t doing worse. They may have been given too low a dose to fight the tumor.
The treated rats thus benefited from an additional 100 days of life, which would be equivalent to 10 years in humans. Today, only 30% of brain tumor patients live more than two years after being diagnosed.
A transformed bacteria
Scientists worked on the bacteria before putting it to work to fight the tumor. Indeed, it is genetically modified and is different from the bacteria that cause food poisoning, for example. According to the researchers, the technique is much more precise than surgery. And since the bacteria are detoxified, there should be no harmful side effects for the patient.
“ It may be necessary to monitor the progress of treatment and providing more doses at crucial times in cancer development “, Explains one of the researchers, before adding:” However, this was our first attempt to design such therapy, and there is some deviation from the specific model we used, so more experiments are needed to be sure “.
Maylis Choné
