Ordinary chickens may be extraordinary in fighting cancer and other
diseases
14 July ScienceDaily
The common barnyard chicken could provide some very un-common clues
for fighting off diseases and might even offer new ways to attack
cancer, according to a team of international researchers that includes a
Texas A&M University professor.
James Womack, Distinguished Professor of Veterinary Pathobiology in
the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, is co-author
of a paper detailing the team's work that appears in the current issue
of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Womack was a
leader in the international effort to sequence the cattle genome in
2004.
Womack and the team, comprised mostly of scientists from the Seoul
National University in Korea, examined 62 White Leghorn and 53 Cornish
chickens for diversity in NK-lysin, an antibacterial substance that
occurs naturally in animals and is used as a method of fighting off
diseases.
They were able to obtain two genetic variations of NK-lysin and the
results offered two unexpected shockers: both showed abilities to fight
off bacterial infections and other diseases, while one showed it could
successfully fight cancer cells as well.
"It took all of us by surprise," Womack says of the findings.
"One of the genetic variations shows it has the ability to fight
against cancer cells much more aggressively than the other variation.
We certainly were not looking at the cancer side of this, but there
it was."Womack says the team selected the two breeds because Cornish and
White Leghorn chickens, found throughout most of the world, have
relatively diverse genetic origins. |