GM algae for cancer treatment
Geneticists have turned algae into "killer" cancer cells
Australian molecular biologists modified the DNA of algae in such a way that they turned into special sponges capable of delivering antibodies and drugs to hard-to-reach tumors in animals or humans, according to an article published in the journal Nature Communications (Delalat et al., Targeted drug delivery using genetically engineered diatom biosilica).
"Anti-cancer drugs are often extremely toxic and deadly substances for healthy body tissues. In order to minimize such effects, we can hide the drug inside nanoparticles coated with antibodies that recognize cancer cells," explains the essence of his invention, Nico Voelcker from the University of South Australia in Adelaide.
Such nanoparticles, if manufactured in the laboratory, are extremely expensive, since the process of their manufacture is extremely laborious and so far requires an almost "individual" approach to creating a "skeleton" of a particle and filling it with drug molecules.
Volker and his colleagues have found an ingenious solution to this problem using one of the oldest examples of life on Earth – the so-called diatoms. These unicellular microorganisms have learned in the course of their evolution to grow a porous and thick enough shell that protects the plant from the environment.
The authors of the article suggested that the algae genome can be modified in such a way that their cells will insert special antibodies into the silicon particles of the shell, which will be tuned to recognize those protein outgrowths that occur only on the surface of cancer cells.
Guided by this idea, Volcker's group changed the DNA of algae of the species Thalassiosira pseudonana in such a way that their silicon shell became covered with antibody molecules that recognize cells of aggressive types of brain cancer. Scientists filled these nanoparticles with the anti-cancer drug camptotecin and a number of other drugs.
Volker and his colleagues tested the work of killer algae on two types of tumors - neuroblastoma of the brain and lymphoma, cancer of lymphatic tissue. At first, scientists experimented on cell cultures in vitro, and then tried to cure mice of these cancers.
Both experiments yielded encouraging results – algae nanoparticles destroyed about 90% of cells in test tubes without touching healthy cells adjacent to them, and caused a decrease in the size of all tumors transplanted into the body of mice during the experiment.
According to Volker, this technology will soon make life easier for all patients with difficult-to-treat tumors, and also for the first time will allow them to fight brain cancer and other cancer cells in hard-to-reach places without resorting to potentially fatal operations.
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10.11.2015