SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS

Florida State University Assistant Professor Kevin Chen says he wants to determine how substances known as recombinant immunotoxins can best be modified to attack and kill malignant tumors while doing minimal harm to a patient's healthy cells.

"Cancer is a disease of tremendous complexity, so the analysis and interpretation of data demands sophisticated, specialized computational methods", Chen said.

He said recombinant immunotoxins are new drugs consisting of tiny fragments of antibody proteins that are fused at the genetic level to toxins produced by certain types of bacteria, fungi or plants.

"Once injected into the body, the antibody portion of the immunotoxin targets specific proteins called antigens that are massively expressed on the surface of cancer cells", Chen said. "These cells are subsequently killed by the accompanying toxins. Normal, healthy cells, meanwhile, are not recognized and thus are spared."

The study that included FSU researchers Junho Kim and Xinmei Li and molecular biologist Byungkook Lee of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., appeared in the March issue of the journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

 BREAKING STORIES

Study: Alcohol reduces brain volume

Prostate drug not linked to hip fracture

Blood pressure drug helps reduce plaque

Nursing mother can pass on codeine to baby

Eating green helps planet and waistlines

Wash. assisted suicide measure debated

Pectin appears to cut cancer risk

New, powerful pain control method studied

Blood replication proteins are identified

Statins may help avoid some miscarriages

New delivery system hikes vaccine response

1 in 7 men have genetic risk of balding

Hereditary angioedema drug is approved

New tool for brain surgeons is developed

New type of drug eluding stent is unveiled

FDA approves hemophilia A drug

Rapaflo OK'd to treat enlarged prostate

Drunk drivers allowed to fly jets

3 Chinese dairy firms apologize

Ballesteros says he has brain tumor