Death cap mushroomsWIKIMEDIA COMMONS, STU PHILLIPS
The death cap mushroom looks just like the common white button mushroom, but don’t mistake one for the other in your salad. The former is true to its name: death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) contain a-amanitin, one of the most deadly poisons found in nature. But now, scientists from three German research centers are using that toxin for good—combating pancreatic cancer.
Published online last week (March 27) in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers attached a-amanitin to an antibody that binds to EpCAM, a cell surface protein abundant in human cancers. In a dish, the poison-loaded antibody arrested the growth of pancreatic, colorectal, breast, and bile duct cancer cell lines. In mice transplanted with human pancreatic tumors, the treatment resulted in tumor regression ...
