Scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot have developed a new method to selectively kill cancer cells, leaving healthy ones intact. And it uses a chemical occurring naturally in garlic.
The scientists of Weizmann’s Biological Chemistry Department, Drs. Aharon Rabinkov, Talia Miron and Marina Mironchick, working with Profs. David Mirelman and Meir Wilchek, have successfully destroyed malignant tumors in mice using their newly-developed method. The key to the scientists’ success lies in the development of a unique, two-step system for delivering the cancer-wrecking chemical straight to the tumor cells.
Allicin, as the chemical is called, is the substance that gives garlic its distinctive aroma and flavor. For many years, scientists studying allicin have known that it is as toxic as it is pungent. It has been shown to kill not only cancer cells, but the cells of disease-causing microbes, and even healthy human body cells. Fortunately for our body’s cells, allicin is highly unstable, and breaks down quickly once ingested. However, the rapid breakdown and undiscriminating toxicity presented twin hurdles to creating an allicin-based therapy.
Now, the Weizmann scientists have solved both these problems by designing an ingenious delivery method that works with the pinpoint accuracy of a smart bomb. Their findings were reported in the December issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.
While the team succeeded in blocking the growth of gastric tumors in mice, the scientists note that the method could work for most types of cancer. The technique could prove invaluable for preventing metastasis following surgery. “Even though doctors cannot detect where metastatic cells have migrated and lodged themselves,” says Professor Mirelman, the system developed at the Weizmann Institute would allow the toxic allicin to “chase them down and destroy them anywhere in the body.”
The scientists of Weizmann’s Biological Chemistry Department, Drs. Aharon Rabinkov, Talia Miron and Marina Mironchick, working with Profs. David Mirelman and Meir Wilchek, have successfully destroyed malignant tumors in mice using their newly-developed method. The key to the scientists’ success lies in the development of a unique, two-step system for delivering the cancer-wrecking chemical straight to the tumor cells.
Allicin, as the chemical is called, is the substance that gives garlic its distinctive aroma and flavor. For many years, scientists studying allicin have known that it is as toxic as it is pungent. It has been shown to kill not only cancer cells, but the cells of disease-causing microbes, and even healthy human body cells. Fortunately for our body’s cells, allicin is highly unstable, and breaks down quickly once ingested. However, the rapid breakdown and undiscriminating toxicity presented twin hurdles to creating an allicin-based therapy.
Now, the Weizmann scientists have solved both these problems by designing an ingenious delivery method that works with the pinpoint accuracy of a smart bomb. Their findings were reported in the December issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.
While the team succeeded in blocking the growth of gastric tumors in mice, the scientists note that the method could work for most types of cancer. The technique could prove invaluable for preventing metastasis following surgery. “Even though doctors cannot detect where metastatic cells have migrated and lodged themselves,” says Professor Mirelman, the system developed at the Weizmann Institute would allow the toxic allicin to “chase them down and destroy them anywhere in the body.”