Sao Paulo, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Butantan Institute recently issued a press release saying that a team involved in the institute showed the potential to fight cancer cells in a substance extracted from a local spider venom and successfully synthesized the substance, bringing new hope for cancer.
The communiqué said the research team focused on a venomous spider that lives in the coastal area of the Brazilian state of São Paulo. They discovered a polyamine substance in the spider's venom that can fight cancer cells, and successfully synthesized and purified the substance in the laboratory.
The researchers say they synthesized the polyamine with two known molecules and no longer needed to get it from the spider's venom, making the whole process more efficient.
One of the biggest differences between this compound and most chemotherapy drugs is that the former is able to kill tumor cells by initiating apoptosis mechanisms, the communiqué said. This means that the cells are able to self-destruct in a controlled manner without causing an inflammatory response. In addition, the researchers also observed that the synthetic compound retained the anti-tumor activity detected in the natural toxin of the venom, and that the compound was able to eliminate leukemia cells that were resistant to chemotherapy, also known as "blood cancer."
According to Thomas Rocha y Silva, a researcher in charge of testing the anti-tumor effect, in general, traditional tumor** methods cause cancer cells to die, resulting in an inflammatory response. And this compound allows cancer cells to enter the process of apoptosis, "as if the cell implodes in a controlled manner." At this point, the immune system is alerted to the collapse of the cells and does not overreact, so it does not have serious effects on other organs and tissues.
Lung cancer and bone cancer cells will be tested next, the researchers said. In addition, they will conduct studies in healthy human cells to confirm that the compound is not toxic to healthy cells and only damages cancer cells. (ENDS).