Two Australian scientists, Sydney-based Dr. Jennifer MacDiarmid and Dr. Himanshu Brahmbhatt have developed what they call the ‘trojan horse’ therapy, for combating cancer.  A two-pronged approach, a bacterially-derived nano cell penetrates and disarms the cancer cell, before it is killed by a second nano cell with chemotherapy drugs.
 
Unlike, current cancer treatment where a cancer patient is injected with chemotherapy drugs that attack both the cancer and the healthy cells, the ‘trojan horse’ therapy has the potential to directly target cancer cells with chemotherapy.
 
Drs. MacDiarmid and Brahmbhatt, who formed EnGenelC Pty Ltd in 2001 say, over the past two years, they have achieved 100% survival in mice with human cancer cels using the ‘trojan horse’ therapy.
 
Human clinical trials are planned in the coming months, with human trials of the cell delivering system starting this week at the University of Melbourne & the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
 
Published in the latest Nature Bio-technology journal, mini-cells called EDVs (EnGenelC Delivery Vehicle) attach and enter the cancer cell, with the first wave releasing ribonucleic acid molecules, called siRNA that switch-off production of proteins responsible for making cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy.  The cancer cells now accept the second wave of EDV cells that release chemotherapy drugs, killing the cancer cell.
 
The basis of the 2006 Nobel Prize in medicine and one of the hottest areas of bio-technology research, RNA interference or RNAi is designed to silence genes that produce disease-causing proteins.