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Local resident Wu Wenyong, diagnosed with cancer, lies on a bed at the hospital in Xiaoxin village, Yunnan province, January 10, 2012. Wu, 15, was diagnosed with thymoma, cancer of the thymus gland in the chest , and with leukaemia last September. About 3 km (two miles) from Wu's home stands a hill of chromium slag. The runoff from chromium-6, listed as a carcinogen by the World Health Organisation, seeped into the nearby water and earth that Wu's family blames for his condition. The chromium hill is a rallying point for a coalition of environmental advocacy groups, who have filed a public interest lawsuit for residents of Xiaoxin and nearby Xinglong in a special environment court. Picture taken January 10, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer

Scientists from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, Canada, have made an unexpected breakthrough in cancer research. Ali Salanti, malaria researcher at KU, and Mads Daugaard, cancer researcher at UBC, chanced upon what appears to be a powerful weapon against cancer while exploring effective malaria vaccine for pregnant women

“In popular terms, armed malaria proteins can kill cancer,” says a KU press release. “The carbohydrate that the malaria parasite attaches itself to in the placenta in pregnant women is identical to a carbohydrate found in cancer cells.” The researchers are positive that tests on humans can be conducted in four years.

In the research laboratory, scientists synthesised the protein that adheres the malaria parasite to the placenta, and added a toxin. This resulted in a powerful combination that effectively tracks down cancer cells, gets absorbed, and with the release of toxins inside, causes the cancer cells to die. The process was observed in mice with cancer and in cell structures, The Local reports.

“We examined the carbohydrate’s function. In the placenta, it helps ensure fast growth. Our experiments showed that it was the same in cancer tumours. We combined the malaria parasite with cancer cells and the parasite reacted to the cancer cells as if they were a placenta and attached itself,” Salanti explains in the press release.

VAR2pharmaceuticals is a biotech company created by the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with the research scientists to further the clinical development.

“The biggest questions are whether it’ll work in the human body, and if the human body can tolerate the doses needed without developing side effects,” says Salanti. “We’re optimistic because the protein appears to only attach itself to a carbohydrate that is only found in the placenta and in cancer tumors in humans.”

The research has been featured in the journal, "Cancer Cell".

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