Mind-controlling cat poo bug ‘makes tumours shrink and could hold cure to cancer’
A parasite found in cat droppings contains a protein which seems to make tumours shrink
A BUG in cat poo could hold the secret to beating cancer.
Scientists say a protein carried by a parasite that infests moggies seems to make tumours shrink.
Tests show the chemical works against ovarian cancer but experts predict it could also fight breast, kidney, liver and lung tumours.
Toxoplasma gondii is commonly found in cats’ droppings and can also be picked up by eating undercooked meat.
The parasite can cause miscarriage or stillbirth in pregnant women – and even blindness in some people.
But academics have found it also contains a protein that makes the immune system attack and destroy malignant cells.
A team at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, United States, developed a vaccine made from the tiny parasite which increased the survival of mice with ovarian tumours.
The findings, in PLOS Genetics, show the cat poo parasite somehow stops tumours becoming unresponsive to immune system attacks.
This is a problem with existing immunotherapy cancer treatments, which charge up the immune system to go on the attack.
Tumours can learn to “hide” from the body’s defences and the immune system finds it hard to know which cells to target.
But specific proteins carried by the parasite override this, allowing rogue cells to be destroyed.
Scientists hope to soon test the treatment in humans.
Other studies are also looking at infectious bugs in the war against cancer.
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One is testing whether listeria bacteria, which cause food poisoning, can shrink pancreatic tumours.
In a report scientists said: “Using infectious organisms to break tumour immune tolerance may be an excellent option for treating cancer in the future.”