This is a story of tomb curses and a deadly fungus. It’s also a lesson in how science, funded by the federal government, provides hope in the search for new treatments against a cancer that can strike anyone: leukemia.
The fungus is Aspergillus flavus. It grows worldwide, even in the inky darkness of the tomb.
In the 1920s, a series of untimely deaths by the team that opened the tomb of King Tutankhamun created the myth of a curse that followed anyone entering Tut’s burial chamber.
Decades later, some suggested the curse was actually the work of A. flavus, which is toxic and sometimes deadly.
Then, in the 1970s, a group of 12 scientists entered the tomb of the 15th century Polish king, Casimir IV, in Kraków after receiving permission from the local archbishop. Within months, 10 were dead. Again, talk turned to a deadly curse. But scientists found A. flavus around the king’s remains.
More recently, a team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists on the hunt for cancer-killing compounds had a look at this fungal villain. Not a bad idea, considering mold gave us penicillin.
The team’s recent study shows that compounds in the fungus can be modified to enhance its anticancer properties.
Essentially, these modified compounds might block the uncontrolled cell division that is cancer’s signature. The molecules identified were shown to affect leukemia cells.
The researchers say they’re explorers, learning how to defeat disease from nature’s pharmacy.
While it’s no supernatural solution, there is poetic justice in working toward a possible cure for the future from a (debunked) curse of the past.
