According to a study, the venom of an Australian species of burrowing octopus has a substance that might be used as a non-toxic treatment for skin cancer.
Researchers at the QIMR Berghofer Institute examined the peptides of the southern sand octopus, also referred to as octopus kaurna.
They examined a variety of synthetically manufactured marine animal venom chemicals for their capacity to inhibit tumour growth.
But because the Australian southern sand octopus can safely and successfully target cancer cells with the BRAF mutation in pre-clinical studies, researchers focused on it.
“We were very surprised to discover the octopus venom peptide selectively reduced the proliferation of melanoma cells and prevented tumour progression, while having little effect on healthy cells,” study lead Dr Maria Ikonomopoulou said.
This selectivity is crucial because current treatments can have unpleasant side effects and be quite toxic to healthy cells, which restricts the dosages that patients can take.
According to the research, the octopus chemical may be a platform for highly-targeted, less toxic treatment of BRAF-mutated melanoma, which makes up around half of all occurrences of the disease.
It’s still very early days.
However, these results raise the possibility of turning this octopus peptide into a cancer medication that may be given even at very large dosages while remaining safe and effective, according to Ikonomopoulou.
Ikonomopoulou thinks that since many patients do not respond to currently available BRAF-mutated melanoma treatments, this research is essential to opening up new possibilities.
She claimed that although additional study is necessary, the octopus venom component has excellent medicinal potential.
Additionally, researchers aim to find out if the substance can treat additional BRAF-mutated malignancies, such as those of the prostate, colon, and non-small cell lung.
Australian octopus venom could aid in the treatment of melanoma
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