Fighting Cancer Cells with the Cabbage Butterfly

Function

Adult butterflies differ from their larvae (caterpillars) in both appearance and diet. While the larvae crawl around and eat leaves, adult butterflies are colorful, have wings, and fly from flower to flower, eating nectar. These changes occur during the periods when the larva is preparing to become a pupa and when the pupa is preparing to become an adult. So what exactly happens inside the pupa’s body during these times? Its body destroys the cells from organs that will be unnecessary to the adult butterfly, and creates cells for the new organs that will be necessary. Researchers have discovered that the pupa secretes a substance called pierisin into its body fluid, which destroys unnecessary cells while leaving important ones unharmed.

Functional Classification

Form/Organization/System:
Decomposition
Defense/Stability:
Living tissue control

Environmental Solution Classification

Related Literature

Sugimura T. Butterflies, Cancer, the Unknown and Me.

Technical Application

Products and Services

Type of Business

Proposals of Applied Technology

Cancer-fighting drugs currently in use today have the unfortunate side effect of attacking healthy cells as well as cancerous ones, placing a huge burden on the body of the patient. Researchers have successfully used the piersin-containing body fluid of butterfly pupae to kill stomach cancer cells. Piersin could play a major role in developing cancer treatments with few or no side effects if researchers can learn how to use it to destroy only targeted cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact.

Proposals of Applied Industry

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