メディエイゴ

By combining nanoparticles(1) with a scorpion(2) venom(3) compound(4) already being investigated(5) for treating brain cancer(6), University of Washington researchers(7) found they could cut the spread of cancerous cells(8) by 98 percent, compared to 45 percent for the scorpion venom alone.

"People talk about the treatment being more effective with nanoparticles but they don't know how much, maybe 5 percent or 10 percent," said Miqin Zhang, professor of materials science and engineering(9). "This was quite a surprise to us." She is lead author of a study recently published in the journal Small.
For more than a decade(10) .scientists have looked at using chlorotoxin(11), a small peptide(12) isolated(13) from scorpion venom, to target and treat cancer(14) cells.

Chlorotoxin binds to a surface protein(15) overexpressed(16) by many types of tumors(17), including brain cancer. Previous research by Zhang's group combined chlorotoxin with nanometer-scale(18) particles(19) of iron oxide(20), which fluoresce(21) at that size, for both magnetic resonance and optical imaging(22).

Chlorotoxin also disrupts(23) the spread of invasive(24) tumors -- specifically(25), it slows cell invasion(26), the ability of the cancerous cell to penetrate(27) the protective(28) matrix(29) surrounding(30) the cell and travel to a different area of the body to start a new cancer. The MMP-2(31) on the cell's surface(32), which is the binding site(33) for chlorotoxin, is hyperactive(34) in highly invasive tumors such as brain cancer. Researchers believe MMP-2 helps the cancerous cell break through the protective matrix to invade(35) new regions(36) of the body. But when chlorotoxin binds to MMP-2, both get drawn into the cancerous cell.