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medpundit |
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Thursday, June 24, 2004Svanborg's team was testing ways to fight what is called bacterial superinfection - bacteria infecting cells already infected by a virus. They applied a protein in mother's milk called alpha-lactalbumin to double-infected lung cancer cells. To the researchers' surprise, the cancer cells as well as the bacteria inside them were killed. That was because the milk protein had changed its configuration, bound to another milk component called oleic acid, and created the more powerful HAMLET compound. The research team then tested the compound against warts on patients' hands and painful ones on their feet, called plantar warts. The warts shrank by at least 75 percent over the first three weeks the compound was applied to the skin. And at least three-quarters of the warts disappeared after a second treatment. The researchers dubbed the compound HAMLET, an acronym for human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells, partly because of their proximity to the scene of the Shakespeare play, which took place in Denmark. Seventy-five percent cured after two applications. That's a fairly impressive result, but a very twisted linguistic to get a catchy acronym. posted by Sydney on 6/24/2004 11:22:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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