In A First, Scientists Induce Cancer Cells To Kill Themselves

Human colorectal cancer cells treated with a topoisomerase inhibitor. In a first, Israeli researchers were able to encode a bacterial toxin into mRNA molecules and send it straight to cancer cells, causing them to manufacture the poison that eventually killed them. YVES POMMIER/ROZENN JOSSE/UNSPLASH 

In a first, Israeli researchers managed to encode a toxin produced by bacteria into mRNA molecules and to deliver it directly to cancer cells, causing them to produce the toxin that went on to kill them.

The study, led by PhD student Yasmin Granot-Matok and Prof. Dan Peer from Tel Aviv University and recently published in Theranostics, showed that a single injection into the tumor bed in animal models with melanoma skin cancer led to the disappearance of 44 to 60 percent of cancer cells.