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A starfish-shaped molecule could protect people from the appalling kidney
damage that follows cholera or Shiga infection, say scientists in Canada. The
bacterial toxins associated with these diseases kill millions of people each
year by binding to their gut cells and ultimately destroying them. Using the
crystal structure of an Escherichia coli toxin, researchers at the
University of Alberta produced a molecule which protects vulnerable cells
against prolonged exposure to a toxin (Nature, vol 403, p 669).
Experiments in vitro showed that the molecule was between one and ten million
times more efficient than any other known inhibitors.