| CANCER PATIENTS of the future could be | | BY STEVE CONNOR |
| treated with a powerful “magic bullet” that | | Science Editor |
| attacks tumours with a cyanide cocktail | | |
| derived from the cassava plant, scientists dis- | | The idea is to inject the combination of |
| closed yesterday at the British Association’s | | antibody and enzyme into the site of a tumour |
| annual meeting. | | and then flush the cancer with the sugar, which |
| Researchers from Imperial College in | | would cause cyanide to be released into the |
| London have devised a way of using cyanide, | | cancer cells. |
| one of the most dangerous and fast-acting poi- | | Cyanide is such an effective poison because |
| sons, selectively to destroy cancer cells yet | | it interrupts the vital oxygen supply that |
| leave healthy tissue untouched. | | enables living tissues to generate energy. “It |
| The key ingredient of the therapy is an | | suffocates you from the inside out,” Dr |
| enzyme derived from the cassava plant, which | | Deonarain said. |
| converts a harmless sugar molecule into the | | Because the poison cripples such an important |
| poison. Scientists have attached the enzyme to | | part of a cell’s vital machinery, it would |
| an artificial antibody specifically designed to | | probably be impossible for tumour cells to |
| target tumour cells only. | | develop a way of avoiding being killed. |
| | |
