From curses to cures — an ancient hex might just be modern science’s secret to battling leukemia.
In the 1920s, archaeologists blamed a string of bizarre deaths following the excavation of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt on the “pharaoh’s curse.”
Decades later, in the 1970s, it happened again when a group of scientists entered the tomb of Casimir IV in Poland.
Out of a team of 12, 10 died within weeks.
They didn’t know it then, but the tomb contained Aspergillus flavus, a fungus that can cause lung infections.
Now, University of Pennsylvania researchers have modified this microbial villain and tapped into its potential as a biomedical hero.
Their new study — published this week in the journal Nature Chemical Biology — revealed that Aspergillus flavus could transform into a cancer-fighting agent that rivals traditional medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Their work highlights the ability to rebrand a historically toxic substance into a groundbreaking drug.
“Fungi gave us penicillin,” Sherry Gao, an associate professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering and bioengineering, said in a statement, referring to the world’s first successful antibiotic.
“These results show that many more medicines derived from natural products remain to be found,” she added.
First study author Qiuyue Nie called it an “unexplored region with tremendous potential.”
Gao’s group isolated and purified four RiPPs from Aspergillus flavus, with these molecules showing killer results against leukemia cells.
But there are obstacles to greater success.
“Purifying these chemicals is difficult,” Nie said.
And while scientists have identified thousands of RiPPs in bacteria, far fewer have been found in fungi.
This might be in part because researchers used to confuse them with a different class of molecules and didn’t fully understand how fungi produced them.
“The synthesis of these compounds is complicated,” Nie noted.
“But that’s also what gives them this remarkable bioactivity,” she continued.
The new research confirms that much of our environment and nature are not yet fully understood — and this exploration could benefit contemporary medicine.
“Nature has given us this incredible pharmacy,” Gao said.
“It’s up to us to uncover its secrets.”
