'Weaponize' salmonella, fight cancer

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

University of Minnesota researchers are using salmonella -- the bacteria responsible for thousands of cases of food poisoning in the U.S. each year -- to fight another plight on humanity: cancer.

The reason? The researchers believe salmonella -- which naturally infects the body in the gut -- can be "weaponized" to help fight cancer in the area, including the liver, spleen and colon.

Researchers want to unleash the salmonella on the cancer, allowing it to attack cancerous cells naturally. And early trials in animals suggest it works, controlling tumors in the gut. (Human clinical trials are underway.)

Using bacteria to fight cancer isn't a new idea. It's often noticed that cancer patients sometimes get better after they’ve been exposed to an infection.

But -- and there's a big "but" here -- the challenge is to stop the bacteria before it, you know, actually makes the patient sick.

First, researcher Dan Saltzman genetically modified a batch of salmonella to weaken it and added Interleukin 2, or IL-2, which notifies the immune system for foreign threats such as cancerous cells.

Since salmonella naturally travels to the gut and associated tissues, the bacteria is a vehicle for IL-2, which calls in an immune response. It's a two-pronged attack: the salmonella damages the cancer cells, and the immune response backs up the action.

Patients can take the treatment orally, mixed with water.

Scientists say weaponized salmonella won't replace chemotherapy and radiation, but it's a much cheaper and less toxic alternative to those treatments.

Here's a tongue-in-cheek video from the school about it:

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com