Bacteria, herb among potential cancer killers | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com
The herbal compound has the same molecular structure as a chemical that slows down PKM2, an enzyme associated with the early stages of tumor growth. The idea is to deprive cancer cells of glucose — the cellular food supply — and keep them from spreading.
DeBreaux used the chemical equivalent of scissors to snip open DNA in a protein taken from a bacterium that causes tuberculosis. He inserted three new pieces of DNA, including an element that caused the protein to light up under a florescent light.
The modified protein targets mitochondria, a cell's maintenance crew. The goal is to disrupt repair of breaks in a cancer cell's DNA strands so the cancer can't fight off chemotherapy and radiation.
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