S. epidermidis growing on an agar plateGALLO AND NAKATSUJI, DERMATOLOGY, UC SAN DIEGO
A strain of Staphylococcus epidermis found on human skin contains a chemical with cancer-fighting abilities, according to a study published yesterday (February 28) in Science Advances.
“The presence of this strain may provide natural protection, or it might be used therapeutically to inhibit the growth of various forms of cancer,” Richard Gallo, a physician-scientist at the University of California, San Diego, tells The Guardian.
While Gallo and his colleagues were examining the antimicrobial properties of skin bacteria, they came across a strain of S. epidermis that produced 6-N-hydroxyaminopurine (6-HAP), a molecule that resembles adenine, a key constituent of DNA. “Because of that structure, we wondered if it interfered with DNA synthesis,” Gallo tells Science News.
When the team investigated further, they found that 6-HAP blocked ...
