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Bacterium that may cause cancer is identified
December 09, 2002A University of Sheffield scientist has isolated a bacterium that may cause cancers in those with a genetic pre-disposition to the disease.
Dr Milton Wainwright, of the University's Molecular Biology and Biotechnology department, researched historical literature and found that, as early as the 1890s, bacteria were believed to cause cancer. Unfortunately, none of the bacteria involved in these studies were ever kept or even named, making it impossible to verify claims about their role in cancer. Dr Wainwright has now isolated a bacterium that is in many ways similar to these historical isolates; the same bacterium was also linked to cancer during the 1960s, but then ignored. The results of this work will be published in the forthcoming issue of Medical Hypotheses.
Dr Wainwright says, "Most cancer experts remain sceptical of the idea that microbes (with the exception of viruses) can cause cancer in humans. Despite this, bacteria have recently been implicated in stomach and cervical cancer. The isolate is a strain of Bacillus licheniformis, a fairly common bacterium that shows a remarkable ability to change its shape. This ability may help it induce cancer in those people with a genetic predisposition to the disease. There is no fear, however, that cancer can in any way be caught from patients."
"This discovery may have real importance for the future because if bacteria, including this isolate, do cause cancer then we may be able to arrest the disease using antibiotics or vaccines. Hopefully, this and other studies will lead to more research effort and money being directed towards the microbial theory of cancer."
Sheffield, University of
"This discovery may have real importance for the future because if bacteria, including this isolate, do cause cancer then we may be able to arrest the disease using antibiotics or vaccines. Hopefully, this and other studies will lead to more research effort and money being directed towards the microbial theory of cancer."
Sheffield, University of
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Exposure to both traffic, indoor pollutants puts some kids at higher risk for asthma later
New research presents strong evidence that the "synergistic" effect of early-life exposure to both outdoor traffic-related pollution and indoor endotoxin causes more harm to developing lungs than one or the other exposure alone.
New study finds MRSA on the rise in hospital outpatients
The community-associated strain of the deadly superbug MRSA-an infection-causing bacteria resistant to most common antibiotics-poses a far greater health threat than previously known and is making its way into hospitals, according to a study in the December issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Researchers establish common seasonal pattern among bacterial communities in Arctic rivers
New research on bacterial communities throughout six large Arctic river ecosystems reveals predictable temporal patterns, suggesting that scientists could use these communities as markers for monitoring climate change in the polar regions.
Biologists discover bacterial defense mechanism against aggressive oxygen
Bacteria possess an ingenious mechanism for preventing oxygen from harming the building blocks of the cell.
Saving the single cysteine: new antioxidant system found
We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single than when paired up with other cysteines.
Beyond sunlight: Explorers census 17,650 ocean species between edge of darkness and black abyss
Census of Marine Life scientists have inventoried an astonishing abundance, diversity and distribution of deep sea species that have never known sunlight - creatures that somehow manage a living in a frigid black world down to 5,000 meters (~3 miles) below the ocean waves.
Surface bacteria maintain skin's healthy balance
On the skin's surface, bacteria are abundant, diverse and constant, but inflammation is undesirable. Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now shows that the normal bacteria living on the skin surface trigger a pathway that prevents excessive inflammation after injury.
On the Trail of a Vaccine for Lyme Disease: Yale Researchers Target Tick Saliva
A protein found in the saliva of ticks helps protect mice from developing Lyme disease, Yale researchers have discovered. The findings, published in the November 19 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, may spur development of a new vaccine against infection from Lyme disease, which is spread through tick bites.
Cigarettes Harbor Many Bacteria Harmful to Human Health
Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France.
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