For decades it was surrounded by fears and superstitions. Associated with inexplicable deaths in the Egyptian tombs, Aspergillus Flavus He was considered one of the most concrete symbols of the legendary “curse of the pharaoh”. Yet today, science tells us a very different story: that of a mold that, as a potential silent assassin, could become a saved cure against leukemia.
Everything starts from the ancient burials: in 1922, after the opening of Tutankhamon’s sepulcher, the financier of the excavation, Lord Carnarvon, died a few months later. A series of subsequent deaths raised the popular belief of an otherworldly revenge. The same fate touched, in the 70s, to a group of Polish archaeologists who explored the tomb of King Casimiro IV: ten on twelve died in a short time.
The most plausible explanation? A toxic sleeping mold for centuries, awakened by the movement of man: she, theAspergillus Flavus. Today, however, scientists no longer fear it. They study it. Isolated it. And they even manage to transform it into a possible anti -cancer therapy, as evidenced by the recent study published on Nature Chemical Biology.
Sherry Gao, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, commented on the results of the research:
Nature is a teacher of irony. A mushroom that once inspired terror could soon become an ally in the fight against cancer.
New hopes against leukemia
The research team, made up of university and medical and European university scientists and medical centers, has discovered a compound so far unknown in the mushroom Aspergillus Flavus: It is a new type of peptide modified, belonging to the category of Ripps, that is, molecules synthesized by ribosomes and then modified by natural enzymes.
These molecules, rarely observed in mushrooms, have a very high biological activity. Analyzing a dozen of different strains, the laboratory led by Professor Gao has identified a specific variant of A. Flavus Able to produce molecules with a complex chemical structure, consisting of rings intertwined around a nucleus of benzofuranoindolina.
The result? A new family of compounds called AsperigiMicine. Some of these molecules, already in their natural shape, have proven to be able to kill leukemic cells in the in vitro tests.
But the researchers did more: they linked to one of these molecules a fatty acid similar to that present in the royal jelly. The compound thus modified, called 2-L6, has obtained results comparable to those of consolidated drugs such as Citarabina and Daunorubicin, two pillars in leukemia therapy.
A surgical precision
One of the most surprising discoveries concerns the specificity of action of the asperigimicine. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, which indistinctly attacks healthy cells, these new molecules attack only leukemia cells, leaving other types of cancer cells unchanged (such as breast, liver or lungs) and without affecting bacteria or other mushrooms, as Gao clarifies:
These molecules block the formation of microtubules, essential for cell division. But they only do it in leukemic cells. It is a precision that we rarely see in pharmacology.
It is a potential change of paradigm: a natural and selective therapy, capable of drastically reducing the side effects of current oncological treatments.
The discovery of asperigiMicine could open the doors to an entire new class of drugs. The researchers have in fact identified other similar genetic clusters in different fungal species. Everyone seems to have a high biological activity, still to be explored, as Qiuyue Nie says, the first author of the study and post-dictating the University of Pennsylvania:
It is a completely new territory. We are only at the beginning. But what we have found so far is incredibly promising.
The next steps? Laboratory animals tests to verify the effectiveness and safety of compounds. If everything goes well, you can proceed with clinical experiments on man.
The research involved, in addition to the University of Pennsylvania, also Rice University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Washington University in St. Louis, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and the University of Porto. The project was supported by public bodies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, as well as numerous private foundations.
This story reminds us, once again, that nature is a silent and inexhaustible laboratory, where even a lethal microorganism can turn into care.
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