Better Than Its Bite

Australia is home to the world's ten most deadly snakes. A bite from any one of them can kill you but some day their venom may be saving lives.

Promising cancer research using snake venom has led scientists at the University of South Australia to wonder why no one had turned their attention to the venom of Australian snakes, especially since they are known to contain a complex cocktail of toxins.

Now Associate Professor Anthony Woods and colleagues have identified a compound found in the venom of these snakes (they won't say which) that may stop the growth of malignant tumors. Woods explains that tumors are living tissue and need a blood supply to fuel growth. To do so, tumors develop specialized blood vessels. Many cutting-edge cancer treatments attempt to starve the tumor of this blood supply, so arresting growth. The downside, however, of current therapies such as chemotherapy is that healthy cells are affected as well. But not so with the Australian snake venom. Woods discovered that, used at extremely low doses, the venomous compound kills the cells that line blood vessels in tumors, but not healthy cells.

Scientists believe that the ability to use the toxin at such a low dose makes it promising as a cancer treatment. However, more research is needed before it can be tested in humans.