MU's School of Veterinary Medicine is in the research phase with bacteria and molecules that could change the treatment of cancer.
Researcher Senthil Kumar and his colleagues have recently discovered that a certain molecule and bacteria system have stopped and killed human pancreatic cancer cells. Kumar said the next step in this process is to test out other types of cancer cells, and then, depending on the results, test on animals. Next, he hopes to test on humans, and then eventually distributed to clinics. KBIA's Maureen Lewis-Stump sat down with Kumar to learn more about the system, and what the future holds for the research.
Maureen: Tell me a little bit about your research.
Kumar: We do different types of work in the laboratory one of our main focus is on epigenetics, and we also do other diverse types of research material. We do develop small molecules to target different types of cancer
Maureen: So how does this molecule work as a communication system?
Kumar: First of all in the bacteria, it functions as a communicator, which means the bacteria in the colony will secrete this molecule in the surrounding and based on how much bacteria is in one particular colony, the number of molecules secreted are more, so, more is good because all the bacteria can recognize this molecule and then decide what to do in the host environment.
Maureen: What is the next step with this particular project?
Kumar: We tested this bacteria molecule, whether it will work on cancer cells, and we did find in human pancreatic cancer cells, it has slight toxicity and killed those cells, the next step in this project will be taking it to the next level where we will try on different, other cancer types and then whether we can successfully transfer our studies into animals.
Maureen: How could this molecule be introduced to animals or the human body?
Kumar: Well, that's a good question. we have not come that far. So, we are still optimizing the protocols, so once that is ready we will probably better be able to tell you how it can happen.
Maureen: How long do you think it will be before there are animal trials?
Kumar: Animal trials will take at least a year because we need to optimize the compound, because we want to make sure it is completely safe for the animal, which is our highest priority, so first off we need to test that outside in the cells once our formulation works in the cells, then we will take that into the animals.
Maureen: Do you think it will eventually be available for cancer patients in the future?
Kumar: that is the hope, but we need to do a lot of studies before that in animals and make sure there is no unnecessary toxicity because of this molecule to the normal cells, so that's what we are hoping for, so once we are sure this is not going to happen, obviously, then we will get this into the clinics.
Maureen: What other kinds of cancer cells will you be testing?
Kumar: Well, I don't want to comment on that right now because it's still in the initial stage, so we haven't decided whether we can go with any particular one, so now we are randomly testing all types of cancer, so I don't want to comment on that right now.
Maureen: Do you have anything else to add?
Kumar: Well yes, this is kind of a novel way of approaching how we can target cancers, most of all once you say bacteria they (people) will say it is pathogenic, and most of them think it is bad, but there are some good things that bacteria does, so hopefully people realize that, bacteria is not only harmful but it may be beneficial as well.
This interview was first aired on KBIA's Under the Microscope.
