Mexican Student Finds Possible Cure For Cancer In Scorpion Venom

A 17-year-old Mexican student has developed a treatment against breast cancer, according to information shared by newspaper Milenio.

Demetrio Rodríguez Fajardo lost his mother to breast cancer and promised her that he would do everything possible to find a cure so that other women wouldn't have to suffer the same anymore. He was adopted by a family friend, who also died to breast cancer. This motivated him to research a way to fight the disease.

The newspaper shares the statements made by the student where he explains that he was often unable to sleep since "there were things I didn't understand, school was getting in the way, and for me it was very important because I started the project as a promise, to keep other people like [my mom]r from dying".

When he was 14, Demetrio got the support of the Biomedical Research Center of the IMSS in the state of Jalisco, who provided him with a lab so he could carry out his research.

Demetrio points out that thanks to his research he discovered "Rhopalutus Junceus", a "protein with a low molecular weight and toxicity" derived from the venom of Cuban scorpions which could help treat breast cancer.

"I've tested this treatment on human tumor cell lines in vitro and animal test subjects like rats and rabbits, which were induced with cancer," Demetrio explains.

Among the characteristics of this treatment what stands out is its ability to fight tumor cell growth four times more than conventional treatments and is less harmful for the cells of the human body, avoiding the death of healthy cells.

The student said "We are currently in the animal experimentation phase and we hope to be able to scale in approximately two or three years towards humans to cover all ranges, but our studies in animals and human tumor cell lines show us that the degree of effectiveness is very high and should stay that way in humans".

According to Milenio, Demetrio was born in Jalisco, won the first place with his experiment in the Mexican Science and Engineering Fair in 2013 and now represents Mexico worldwide in the International Science and Engineering Fair.