Salmonella 'could cure cancer'

Published on Thursday 21 October 2010 15:10

SALMONELLA, the bacteria best known for causing food poisoning, could be used to cure people of cancer, Scottish research suggests.

• A test tube containing salmonella bacteria during an isolated outbreak in 2002

Scientists at Glasgow University have discovered how a protein in the bug manipulates what happens in the body's cells, causing them to die off.

This ability could be directed to kill cancerous cells, potentially curing the disease.

In future it is hoped that special forms of salmonella could be injected into patients to destroy their cancer, before they are treated with antibiotics to rid them of any remaining bacteria.

Cancer experts have welcomed the research, which could, after extensive testing, lead to new treatments in the next five to ten years.

Dr Donal Wall, who worked on the study, said the team had discovered how salmonella uses an enzyme, known as caspase-3, to spread inflammation in the body. A protein in the bacteria called SipA causes the enzyme to proliferate, prompting cell death.

The scientists, whose work was funded by medical research charity Tenovus Scotland, hope this process could be amplified and directed at cancerous cells, with the bacteria effectively killing the tumours.

Wall said: "In order to infect, the bacteria use a lot of different proteins which they inject into the host cells.

"What we have discovered is that the bacteria are managing to use one of the host cell's enzymes to help them.

"The enzyme is taking the bacterial proteins and cutting them up, inadvertently helping the bacteria making these proteins a lot more effective during infection."

Wall said this process was in itself interesting in the study of how diseases develop. "But what is really interesting is that the enzyme it is using is very important in the process of cell death," he said.

"This is often defective in diseases like cancer, so we think, if we can harness this ability the bacteria have to encourage cell death then we may be able to use this ability for the treatment of cancer."

He added: "We believe if we can take this and bring it further then we can possibly create a strain of salmonella that will be a lot more effective when it gets to the tumour site," he said.

The researchers hope to use a deactivated strain of salmonella to develop the treatment for cancer, which would not cause other infections.

After treatment, the patient could be treated with antibiotics to get rid of the salmonella bacteria.