Some of the best things in the world were discovered by accident, like microwaves, super glue and crisps.
Now we might be able to add a cancer cure to the list.
Dutch and Canadian scientists could have made a breakthrough in cancer research while looking into ways to fight malaria in pregnant women.
The team claims the carbohydrate that the malaria parasite attaches itself to in the placenta of pregnant women is identical to a carbohydrate found in cancer cells.
By combining the protein that the malaria vaccine uses to bury into cells with a toxin that cancer cells absorb, the combo can then bury into cancer cells and release the toxin, killing them off.
Ali Salanti from University of Copenhagen said:
For decades, scientists have been searching for similarities between the growth of a placenta and a tumour.
The placenta is an organ, which within a few months grows from only few cells into an organ weighing approx. two pounds, and it provides the embryo with oxygen and nourishment in a relatively foreign environment.
In a manner of speaking, tumours do much the same, they grow aggressively in a relatively foreign environment.
It isn’t clear whether it will work on humans yet, as the researchers aren't sure if our bodies can handle the amount of toxins necessary to kill the cancer cell, nor if there will be side effects - but tests on mice have been positive.
The animals were implanted with three different types of human cancers. It reduced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma tumours to about a quarter of their size, got rid of prostate cancer entirely in two of six mice and kept alive five out of six mice that had metastatic bone cancer compared to a control group all of which died.
It’s hoped tests can be carried out on humans in the next four years
Safe to say this would top all lists of the greatest things created by accident.