AN ingredient in cobra venom is the latest weapon against cancer. CVF or
cobra venom factor activates the part of the immune system that kills cells by
puncturing their outer membranes.
Channe Gowda and Qinglan Fu from Georgetown University Medical Center in
Washington DC are attaching CVF to antibodies which home in on cancer cells.
Previous attempts to do this were stymied because the CVF stopped working
when it was linked to the antibody. By rejigging the link, Gowda and Fu have
managed to restore its potency. In lab tests, they found the CVF antibody
successfully activated the hole-punching power…
