The FDA (Food and Drug Administration of the United States) has approved the study in humans of a very novel product that will help to locate tumors more easily. And it is that, removing a tumor is a very delicate operation, since if too much tissue is cut there is a risk of damaging healthy areas, and if it is cut too little, the tumor will grow again.
The solution to this problem is in scorpion venom. A team of scientists from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (USA) has managed to synthesize in the laboratory a molecule that adheres only to tumor cells and glows in infrared light, so that surgeons would have a clear view of the tissue location tumor without fear of damaging healthy tissue in the operation, since it is capable of revealing cancer cells impossible to see with the naked eye, when these cells form a few hundred cells.
The molecule in question has been developed by specialist Jim Olsen from the paralyzing venom of an Israeli DeathStalker scorpion (or Palestinian yellow scorpion). This species is one of the most lethal in the world and is considered the second most poisonous of all scorpion species.
The experiment will be tested very soon with humans , specifically with 21 patients with malignant glioma brain tumors to whom what they have called "paint tumor" will be applied, according to the scientists explained to the journal Science . Patients will be selected in December 2015 .
