A deadly fungus has been turned into a potent cancer-fighting compound after researchers isolated a new class of molecules from it.
Aspergillus flavus, a toxic crop fungus linked to deaths in the excavations of ancient tombs—such as that of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamon—was recently used in a test against leukemia cells.
The result? A promising cancer-killing compound that rivals FDA-approved drugs and opens up new frontiers in the discovery of more fungal medicines. “Fungi gave us penicillin,” says Sherry Gao, Presidential Compact Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and senior author of a new paper in Nature Chemical Biologyon. “These results show that many more medicines derived from natural products remain to be found.”
After archaeologists opened King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the 1920s, a series of untimely deaths among the excavation team fueled rumors of a pharaoh’s curse. Decades later, doctors theorized that fungal spores, dormant for millennia, could have played a role.
In the 1970s, a dozen scientists entered the tomb of Casimir IV in Poland. Within weeks, 10 of them died. Later investigations revealed the tomb contained Aspergillus flavus, named for its yellow spores, whose toxins can lead to lung infections, especially in people with compromised immune systems.
Now, that same fungus is the unlikely source of a promising new cancer therapy.
Even with no modification, when mixed with human cancer cells, asperigimycins demonstrated medical potential: two of the four variants had potent effects against leukemia cells.
Photo: Penn State University