Posted on 03/06/2021 8:36:44 PM PST by nickcarraway
Researchers based in the desert extract nanobodies from camels that can be used to deliver drugs directly to cancerous cells.
Antibodies from female camels can help fight prostate cancer by delivering potent drugs to cancer cells without damaging normal cells, a recent Israeli study has shown.
The study, led by Prof. Niv Papo and PhD candidate Lior Rosenfeld from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, managed to identify nanobodies in female camels that bind to receptors that are overexpressed in prostate cancer tumors and which can be conjugated to a cytotoxic drug, enabling the delivery of the drug to the cell.
The research was recently published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
“We wanted to do something new, a new molecule that is unconventional,” explains Papo. “Historically, immunotherapy uses antibodies. These are very large molecules that are injected into the body. They find their way to the cancerous cells and they damage them.”
Papo and Rosenfeld decided to utilize nanobodies – which are only 10 percent the size of regular antibodies – that can be found in sharks and camels. Since they are located in the Negev Desert, they opted for camels.
“We bought a female camel and we’re raising it in a nearby farm. For four months, we injected it with the receptor that’s located on the cancerous cells,” he explains.
The injection of these receptors – prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) enzymes – led to the creation of antibodies in the camel’s body, from which the researchers extracted the four nanobodies that bound themselves best to the receptors.
The researchers then attached drugs to the nanobodies which managed to directly lead the way to the cancerous cells, meaning that only a small amount of drugs needed to be used and that other cells were not harmed in the process.
The preclinical trials were carried out on mice and showed tumor growth inhibition, and the researchers are now in touch with a US company regarding clinical trials. They also plan on identifying other female camel nanobodies that could be used in a similar way to treat other kinds of cancers.
No more camel jockey jokes about moozlems.
Good. I wonder how the researchers figured this out.
The lord giveth, the lord taketh away.
As a kid I stole those from my dad. When I went into the service my dad gave me a carton. He knew. He lived to be 91 after quitting at age 50. I did the same and am at the age 73. Those were strong cigs.-
So...where can I buy fermented camel milk? Bedouins? Does Trader Joes sell it? Wholesale at Costco?
My parents smoked Pall Malls. My best friend’s Dad smoked Camels. We preferred the Camels. Those Pall Malls were strong!
Clever!!!
I smoked 1-2 packs a day for 40 years, then quit cold turkey. I loved smoking Camel straights for the whole time, but can’t say I miss ‘em now.
A version of LS/MFT?
Having the disease for 18 years and studying it for much of that time: who could have seen this approach coming?
bookmark
Loose Strap...?
Yeah, well something has to hold the ole prostate up...
When I joined the service I would get 4 cartons of Pall Malls on payday. Back then that cost me $8. I was a pack a day smoker. The 4th carton was for friends at the end of the month who didn’t think ahead.
I got a meal plan for my daughter at college that would have fed an athlete. I did that so that if she or her friends made money mistakes they could eat without being beggars. I was a starving student myself.
“I’d walk a mile for a Camel!’’’.
Well golly gee. There actually IS some benefit to smoking after all.
Some cigarette company ought to have a slogan “Smoke your way to good health!’’
Does mean I have to quit making fun of Muhammad teaching his believers to drink camel urine for healing? lol
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