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A promising new cancer drug dubbed a “Trojan Horse” successfully kills cancer cells while leaving nearby healthy tissue untouched, a teenager gets a college degree before graduating high school, and more top stories.
Using an ingenious procedure likened to a “Trojan Horse” for attacking malignant cells, researchers have successfully found a way to “trick” cancer cells into ingesting a new drug while leaving nearby healthy tissue completely untouched, according to the results of a study published in the journal Nature Communications.
The breakthrough research was performed by scientists at the University of Edinburg, the Harold Scotland reports.
The researchers combined a tiny cancer-killing molecule called SeNBD with a food compound. This game-changing combination tricked cancer cells into ingesting it. The method targeted the fact that cancer cells tend to be “greedy,” needing to consume high amounts of food for energy. Typically, cancerous cells ingest more than healthy cells, researchers explained. By coupling SeNBD with a chemical food compound, the drug becomes “ideal prey for harmful cells” that ingest it” without being alerted to its toxic nature,” researchers said. The researchers likened it to a “Trojan Horse.”
The study has been peer-reviewed with experiments on zebrafish and human cells. Researchers say more studies will be needed to determine if it is a safe method for treating both early-stage cancer and drug-resistant bacteria.
Last week, Antonio Cruz received an Associate’s degree in agriculture science from West Hills College, two days ahead of graduating from Mendota High School in California. But his story is even more incredible. He did both while working a full-time job in the middle of a global pandemic.
When he was a high school freshman, Cruz enrolled in Wonderful Education’s Agriculture Career Prep program, allowing him to complete high school and earn an AA degree in four years.
His parents divorced not long after, and adding to an already full plate, he stepped up by working a full-time job at a packing house to help his family make ends meet, CNN and WSVN reported.
Researchers have successfully revived a microscopic animal that has been slumbering for 24,000 years in Arctic permafrost in Siberia. The creatures, known as Bdelloid rotifers, typically live in watery environments, CNN reports. They are also known for having an incredible ability to survive. But scientists were startled to find out their survival was way beyond the previously known length of up to 10 years.
The new study was published on Monday in the journal Current Biology. Using a drilling rig, Russian scientists found the creatures in a core of frozen soil extracted from Siberia. The sample recovered from permafrost, ground that is frozen year-round, was tested using radiocarbon dating and determined to be 24,000 years old.
“Our report is the hardest proof as of today that multicellular animals could withstand tens of thousands of years in cryptobiosis, the state of almost completely arrested metabolism,” said Stas Malavin, a researcher at the Soil Cryology Laboratory at the Pushchino Scientific Center for Biological Research. “The takeaway is that a multicellular organism can be frozen and stored as such for thousands of years and then return back to life.”
“Of course, the more complex the organism, the trickier it is to preserve it alive frozen and, for mammals, it’s not currently possible,” Malavin added. “Yet, moving from a single-celled organism to an organism with a gut and brain, though microscopic, is a big step forward.”
