Cancer: Could A Malaria Protein Cure It?

Could a malaria protein work as a weapon against cancer?

A group of Danish researchers found the potential cure while looking for a way to protect pregnant women from malaria. Malaria, a bloodborne disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite, is especially dangerous for pregnant women because the parasite may attack the placenta, putting the child's life at risk. Because of similar characteristics between tumors and placentas, they found that malaria proteins can also attack cancer.

"The placenta is an organ, which within a few months grows from only few cells into an organ weighing approximately 2 pounds, and it provides the embryo with oxygen and nourishment in a relatively foreign environment," study author Ali Salanti said in a statement. "In a manner of speaking, tumors do much the same - they grow aggressively in a relatively foreign environment."

In this recent study, mice used in the research were implanted with three different types of human cancers. Researchers found that when attaching a cancer-killing toxin to the malaria protein, it was 90 percent effective in destroying various cancer samples. In two of six mice, the combination completely eliminated prostate cancer and even kept alive five out of six mice that had metastatic bone cancer when compared to those in the control group that died, according to The Independent.

"We have separated the malaria protein, which attaches itself to the carbohydrate and then added a toxin," said Mads Daugaard, a cancer researcher at Canada's University of British Columbia and one of the scientists that worked on the research. "By conducting tests on mice, we have been able to show that the combination of protein and toxin kill the cancer cells."

The study was published in the journal Cancer Cell. 

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