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Sexta-feira, 25.07.14

Your Cat's Poop Could One Day Treat Cancer

(livescience.com)

 

A microscopic organism that lives in cat poop could one day be used as a cancer treatment, researchers say.

 

 

Toxoplasma gondii is a single-celled parasite that lives in cats' intestines, but can infect other animals and people as well. Although infections with the Toxoplasma parasite are common among people, very few people show symptoms because their immune system attacks and keeps the parasite from causing illness.

 

Now, researchers are aiming to harness the immune response triggered by the parasite and direct it to attacking tumors. Although the Toxoplasma parasite is hardly the only microbe studied in the hot field of cancer immunotherapy, it may have some unique abilities, the researchers said.

 

"We know [that] biologically, this parasite has figured out how to stimulate the exact immune responses you want to fight cancer," said David J. Bzik, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

 

Using a genetically modified Toxoplasma parasite, Bzik and his colleagues treated mice that had the skin cancer melanoma and mice that had ovarian cancer. In recent studies, they showed the treatment shrank the tumor and increased the mice's chances of survival.

 

However, much work is needed before a Toxoplasma-based cancer treatment could exit the lab and enter the clinic, the researchers said.

 

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(texto: Bahar Gholipour – imagem: Live Science)

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publicado por Produções Anormais - Albufeira às 00:23