If you follow cancer news, it’s hard not to get overwhelmed with studies and theories that offer hope of big breakthroughs. Many, sadly don’t seem to pan out. Recently, one has doctors and researchers excited for advancement it promises when brain cancer leads to surgery.
And the source of the excitement is coming from an odd place “” the gut of an Israeli scorpion.
Scorpion venom fights cancer cells
While toxins derived from scorpions have delivered medical breakthroughs before (including a diabetes drug), the venom from the Israeli deathstalker scorpion, also known as Leiurus quinquestriatus, is the source of the latest craze. Researchers found a toxin from the scorpion’s venom has unusual qualities when it comes to cancerous cells.
The scientists developed a “tumor paint” using the venom that, when injected into a patient, crosses the blood-brain barrier and finds its way to cancer cells in the brain, lighting them up under infrared light. To see the tumors, doctors remove the top of the skull, inject the paint and shine a light on exposed brain tissue to see the glowing tumors.
What makes the tumors glow?
A tough protein in the venom, called Chlorotoxin, targets cancer cells and avoids healthy, normal cells. A surgeon, using infrared light, can identify the cancer cells and remove them with greater accuracy and less of a chance of leaving cancer cells behind “” which is incredibly difficult in the brain, where there is little room for error.
Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center established the procedure while testing it in animal studies. They’ve since gotten FDA approval for human trials and handed off the commercial development of the scorpion venom to a bioscience firm.
Human trials are happening now at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
For more on the breakthrough, including interviews with doctors, visit NPR.
