Modified Anthrax Toxin Attacks Tumors in Mice
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A few deft changes have turned a dangerous anthrax toxin into a possible cancer drug, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Shihui Liu and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health genetically altered one of the three anthrax toxins so that it would be activated by a protein that sits on the surface of virtually all human tumor cells. When mice with various tumors were treated with the altered toxin, normal mouse cells were spared but tumors were attacked.
