Radioactive Bacteria Used to Kill Cancer Cells

 A group of researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have hit upon a novel way to treat cancerous cells and halt their spread. They conducted a study of mice carrying human tumors where they delivering radiation directly to the cancer cells using genetically modified bacteria. The therapy shrank the rodent’s primary tumors while sparing healthy tissue; it also blasted cancer cells that had spread throughout the animals, reducing their number by up to 90%. The cancer-targeting microorganism, Listeria monocytogenes, is a rod-shaped bacterium that penetrates the cells of the people and animals that it infects. Because of the bacterium’s ability to burrow inside key immune cells called macrophages, some researchers use weakened Listeria with bits of tumor DNA attached to teach the body’s immune system to recognize and destroy cancerous cells that might otherwise slip by unnoticed. The reason I think this is such a cool idea is because of its practical use in only destroying cancer cells and not harming healthy cells. Since the immune system around cancer cells is not working like it should these bacteria can get in and gradually destroy the cells without hurting the healthy cells.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/04/radioactive-microbes/