Scientists at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy found a marine compound that inhibits cancer cell growth in lab tests which they hope can lead to new anti-cancer drugs with fewer sides effects. The said UF-patented compound, called largazole was made from cyanobacteria that grow on coral reefs. Researchers, who described results from early studies today (Aug. 7) at an international natural products scientific meeting in Athens, Greece, say it is one of the most promising they’ve found since the college’s marine natural products laboratory was established three years ago. Largazole, discovered and named by Luesch for its Florida location and structural features, seeks out a family of enzymes called histone deacetylase, or HDAC.... [Read more]

Tumor weight and growth rate has been reduced by about 50 percent in mouse models of brain, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers with injections of high-dose Vitamin C (ascorbate or ascorbic acid). Such were the results reported by the NIH study at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS): The NIH researchers, however, tested the idea that ascorbate, when injected at high doses, may have prooxidant instead of antioxidant activity. Prooxidants would generate free radicals and the formation of hydrogen peroxide, which, the scientists hypothesized, might kill tumor cells. In their laboratory experiments on 43 cancer and 5 normal cell lines, the researchers discovered that high concentrations of ascorbate had anticancer effects in 75... [Read more]

A research team from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine have showed that combining a dietary agent with a gene-delivered cytokine effectively eliminates human pancreatic cancer cells in mice displaying sensitivity to these highly aggressive and lethal cancer cells. The cytokine used in this study was melanoma differentiation associated gene-7/interleukin-24, known as mda-7/IL-24. The dietary agent, perillyl alcohol (POH), was combined with mda-7/IL-24, which is already used in other cancer treatments. POH is found in a variety of plants, including citrus plants, and has been well-tolerated by patients who have received it in clinical studies. Published in the July issue of Molecular... [Read more]

Methadone – the agent used against opioid addiction – has been found by German researchers to have surprising killing powers against treatment-resistant forms of leukemia cells. Methadone, developed in Germany in the 1930s, is a low cost agent that acts on opioid receptors, and thus is used as an opioid substitute to treat addiction. Scientists have found that opioid receptors also exist on the surface of some cancer cells for reasons that are not understood. One research group tested the agent in human lung cancer cell lines and found that it can induce cell death. Thus suggesting that methadone has the potential as a new therapy for leukemia, more specifically in patients whose cancer no longer responds to chemotherapy and radiation. The... [Read more]

Last month, reports came out that Paul Newman has lung cancer. The ‘rumor’ was denied through his publicist. Earlier this month, the old actor has been spotted being pushed on a wheelchair — making the ‘lung cancer rumors’ resurface. Paul Newman was photographed in a wheelchair during a recent outing in New York following reports that the legendary actor has cancer. The photos, taken on July 7, show a woman pushing Newman in a wheelchair. Well…maybe he is sick. Due to lung cancer or just plain old age, who knows? Let us just wish him good health and peace. [Read more]