The present invention relates to methods and compositions of modified variants of diphtheria toxin (DT) that reduce binding to vascular endothelium or vascular endothelial cells, and therefore, reduce the incidence of Vascular Leak Syndrome. One aspect of the present invention relates to a polypeptide toxophore from a modified DT, wherein the mutation is the substitution or deletion at least one amino acid residue at the amino acid residues 6-8, 28-30 or 289-291 of native DT. Another aspect of the present invention relates to a fusion protein which comprises a modified DT and a non-DT fragment. Another aspect of the present invention relates to the use of modified DT for the treatment of cancer.