Deadly fungus tied to a pharaoh's tomb may help fight cancer

A fatal fungus once thought to be a curse could potentially help fight disease. Scientists discovered molecules in a fungus linked to Tutankhamun's tomb that stop the proliferation of cancer cells and are as effective as currently used treatments. Fungi may hold a treasure trove of medical breakthroughs ready to be unearthed.

Treatment from beyond the grave

The "pharaoh's curse" fungus, Aspergillus flavus, can be used to fight leukemia, according to a study published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. The fungus is called "pharaoh's curse" because it is "linked to the deaths of several archeologists who opened ancient tombs around the world, including the famous discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun in the 1920s," said Popular Mechanics. At the time, many believed the deaths to be the result of an ancient curse rather than fungal inhalation.

Aspergillus flavus is known as a "microbial villain," said Popular Science. It is "one of the most frequently isolated mold species in both agriculture and medicine" and is "commonly found in soil and can infect a broad range of important agricultural crops." Exposure to the fungus can lead to lung infections, especially in those who are immunocompromised. Despite its deadly reputation, the fungus contains a class of peptides that can fight cancer when modified.

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Researchers were able to isolate four molecules from A. flavus, which they named "asperigimycins." The molecules were capable of forming a unique structure of interlocking rings. "Even without genetic modifications, the asperigimycins demonstrated medical potential when mixed together with human cancer cells," said Popular Science. "Two out of the four variants had potent effects against leukemia cells." When fatty molecules called lipids were added, the asperigimycins were as effective as the FDA-approved drugs used to treat the cancer. There also seem to be no apparent side effects from A. flavus.

Fungus among us

Asperigimycins are part of a class of molecules called ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides, or RiPPs. A number of them have been found in bacteria, but they are "rare in fungi and notoriously hard to study," said Wired. This is "mainly because no one was looking closely until now." However, "even though only a few have been found, almost all of them have strong bioactivity," Qiuyue Nie, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and an author of the study, said in a statement. "This is an unexplored region with tremendous potential."

Fungi have long been a source of medicine, perhaps most famously the antibiotic penicillin. This research implies there is more where that came from. "Nature has given us this incredible pharmacy," Sherry Gao, an associate professor at UPenn and the senior author of the study, said in the statement. "It's up to us to uncover its secrets. As engineers, we're excited to keep exploring, learning from nature and using that knowledge to design better solutions." The next step will be to test the newly discovered treatment on animals and then eventually on humans. It will likely still be many years before the treatments can be widely used on people.