Ironjustic
Thu, Feb-10-05, 18:18
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/509720/
Source: University of Washington Released: Tue
08-Feb-2005, 16:10 ET
Printer-friendly Version
Researchers Blend Folk Treatment, High Tech for Promising
Anti-cancer Compound Libraries Medical News Keywords CANCER,
FOLK MEDICINE, BIOCHEMISTRY, ARTEMISININ, WORMWOOD Contact
Information
Available for logged-in reporters only Description
Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the
past with the present in the fight against cancer,
synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese
remedy to selectively target cancer cells.
Newswise - Researchers at the University of Washington have
blended the past with the present in the fight against cancer,
synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese
remedy that uses cancer cells' rapacious appetite for iron to
make them a target.
The substance, artemisinin, is derived from the wormwood
plant and has been used in China since ancient times to
treat malaria. Earlier work by Henry Lai and Narendra
Singh, both UW bioengineers, indicated that artemisinin
alone could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving
normal cells unharmed.
The new compound appears to vastly improve that deadly
selectivity, according to a new study that appeared in a
recent issue of the journal Life Sciences. In addition to Lai
and Singh, co-authors include Tomikazu Sasaki and Archna
Messay, both UW chemists.
"By itself, artemisinin is about 100 times more selective in
killing cancer cells as opposed to normal cells," Lai said.
"In this study, the new artemisinin compound was 34,000 times
more potent in killing the cancer cells as opposed to their
normal cousins. So the tagging process appears to have greatly
increased the potency of artemisinin's cancer-killing
properties."
The compound has been licensed to Chongqing Holley Holdings
and Holley Pharmaceuticals, its U.S. subsidiary, to be
developed for possible use in humans. Although the compound is
promising, officials say, potential use for people is still
years away.
In the study, researchers exposed human leukemia cells and
white blood cells to the compound. While the leukemia
cells quickly died, the white blood cells remained
essentially unharmed.
The trick to the compound's effectiveness, according to
Lai, appears to be in taking advantage of how cancer
cells function.
Because they multiply so rapidly, most cancer cells need more
iron than normal cells to replicate DNA. To facilitate that,
cancer cells have inlets on their surface, known as
transferrin receptors, in greater numbers than other cells.
Those receptors allow quick transport into the cell of
transferrin, an iron-carrying protein found in blood.
In creating the compound, researchers bound artemisinin to
transferrin at the molecular level. The combination of the two
ingredients appears to fool the cancer cell.
"We call it a Trojan horse because the cancer cell recognizes
transferrin as a natural, harmless protein," Lai said. "So the
cell picks up the compound without knowing that a bomb -
artemisinin - is hidden inside."
Once inside the cell, the artemisinin reacts with the iron,
spawning highly reactive chemicals called "free radicals." The
free radicals attack other molecules and the cell membrane,
breaking it apart and killing the cell.
According to Lai, that process is what initially piqued his
interest in artemisinin about 10 years ago. The wormwood
extract was used centuries ago in China, but the treatment
became lost over time. In the 1970s, it was rediscovered as
part of an ancient manuscript containing medical remedies,
including a recipe that used a wormwood extract. The medical
community soon discovered that the extract, artemisinin,
worked well against malaria, and it is currently used for that
purpose throughout Asia and Africa.
Artemisinin combats malaria because the malaria parasite
collects high iron concentrations as it metabolizes hemoglobin
in the blood. As science began to understand how artemisinin
functioned, Lai said, he began to wonder if the process had
implications for cancer treatment.
"I started thinking that maybe we could use this knowledge to
selectively target cancer cells," he said. "So far, the
outlook appears good."
The next step in development under the Holley licensing
agreement will likely be testing in animals and, if that pans
out, human trials to gauge the compound's effectiveness. The
current study was funded by the Artemisinin Research
Foundation and Chongqing Holley Holdings.
The article is available on-line at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science. Click the "journals"
button and look under Life Sciences, Volume 76, Issue 11. The
article is No. 9 on the Web page (page 1267-1279).
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------=
-----
=A9 2005 Newswise. All Rights Reserved
Who loves ya. Tom Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore DEAD
PEOPLE WALKING
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/deadpeoplewalking
Source: University of Washington Released: Tue
08-Feb-2005, 16:10 ET
Printer-friendly Version
Researchers Blend Folk Treatment, High Tech for Promising
Anti-cancer Compound Libraries Medical News Keywords CANCER,
FOLK MEDICINE, BIOCHEMISTRY, ARTEMISININ, WORMWOOD Contact
Information
Available for logged-in reporters only Description
Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the
past with the present in the fight against cancer,
synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese
remedy to selectively target cancer cells.
Newswise - Researchers at the University of Washington have
blended the past with the present in the fight against cancer,
synthesizing a promising new compound from an ancient Chinese
remedy that uses cancer cells' rapacious appetite for iron to
make them a target.
The substance, artemisinin, is derived from the wormwood
plant and has been used in China since ancient times to
treat malaria. Earlier work by Henry Lai and Narendra
Singh, both UW bioengineers, indicated that artemisinin
alone could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving
normal cells unharmed.
The new compound appears to vastly improve that deadly
selectivity, according to a new study that appeared in a
recent issue of the journal Life Sciences. In addition to Lai
and Singh, co-authors include Tomikazu Sasaki and Archna
Messay, both UW chemists.
"By itself, artemisinin is about 100 times more selective in
killing cancer cells as opposed to normal cells," Lai said.
"In this study, the new artemisinin compound was 34,000 times
more potent in killing the cancer cells as opposed to their
normal cousins. So the tagging process appears to have greatly
increased the potency of artemisinin's cancer-killing
properties."
The compound has been licensed to Chongqing Holley Holdings
and Holley Pharmaceuticals, its U.S. subsidiary, to be
developed for possible use in humans. Although the compound is
promising, officials say, potential use for people is still
years away.
In the study, researchers exposed human leukemia cells and
white blood cells to the compound. While the leukemia
cells quickly died, the white blood cells remained
essentially unharmed.
The trick to the compound's effectiveness, according to
Lai, appears to be in taking advantage of how cancer
cells function.
Because they multiply so rapidly, most cancer cells need more
iron than normal cells to replicate DNA. To facilitate that,
cancer cells have inlets on their surface, known as
transferrin receptors, in greater numbers than other cells.
Those receptors allow quick transport into the cell of
transferrin, an iron-carrying protein found in blood.
In creating the compound, researchers bound artemisinin to
transferrin at the molecular level. The combination of the two
ingredients appears to fool the cancer cell.
"We call it a Trojan horse because the cancer cell recognizes
transferrin as a natural, harmless protein," Lai said. "So the
cell picks up the compound without knowing that a bomb -
artemisinin - is hidden inside."
Once inside the cell, the artemisinin reacts with the iron,
spawning highly reactive chemicals called "free radicals." The
free radicals attack other molecules and the cell membrane,
breaking it apart and killing the cell.
According to Lai, that process is what initially piqued his
interest in artemisinin about 10 years ago. The wormwood
extract was used centuries ago in China, but the treatment
became lost over time. In the 1970s, it was rediscovered as
part of an ancient manuscript containing medical remedies,
including a recipe that used a wormwood extract. The medical
community soon discovered that the extract, artemisinin,
worked well against malaria, and it is currently used for that
purpose throughout Asia and Africa.
Artemisinin combats malaria because the malaria parasite
collects high iron concentrations as it metabolizes hemoglobin
in the blood. As science began to understand how artemisinin
functioned, Lai said, he began to wonder if the process had
implications for cancer treatment.
"I started thinking that maybe we could use this knowledge to
selectively target cancer cells," he said. "So far, the
outlook appears good."
The next step in development under the Holley licensing
agreement will likely be testing in animals and, if that pans
out, human trials to gauge the compound's effectiveness. The
current study was funded by the Artemisinin Research
Foundation and Chongqing Holley Holdings.
The article is available on-line at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science. Click the "journals"
button and look under Life Sciences, Volume 76, Issue 11. The
article is No. 9 on the Web page (page 1267-1279).
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------=
-----
=A9 2005 Newswise. All Rights Reserved
Who loves ya. Tom Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore DEAD
PEOPLE WALKING
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/deadpeoplewalking