(NaturalNews) An extract made from one of the main antioxidants found in green tea may be able to slow the progression of prostate cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from Louisiana state University and published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Researchers gave 26 prostate cancer patients between the ages of 41 and 68's four capsules of day of Polyphenon E, an extract of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) made by Polyphenon Pharma. EGCG is a powerful antioxidant to which many of the health benefits of green tea have been attributed. The dosage given to the participants in the study was equivalent to that acquired from drinking 12 cups of green tea per day.
After 12 weeks, the researchers found that levels of the prostate cancer markers Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) had fallen by an average of 18.9 percent, 9.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively, indicating a slowed progression of the disease.
PSA is a marker of inflammation, and indicates disease severity in prostate cancer patients. HGF and VEGF are both produced by prostate tumors as they spread to other parts of the body.
In some patients, HGF and VEGF levels fell as much as 30 percent upon treatment with the EGCG extract.
The researchers were cautiously optimistic about the study findings.
"It's still in an early stage," researcher Jim Cardelli said. "Green tea can keep cancer from growing very fast, but it may not be able to shrink tumors. But it can be a good addition to traditional therapies, like chemo (chemotherapy) or radiation."
Researchers do not know whether the same effects could be seen in other cancers, but the antioxidants in green tea have previously been linked to a reduced risk of a variety of cancers, skin and autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular disease and inflammation.
Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com.
Showing posts with label tumors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tumors. Show all posts
Friday, February 5, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Common Pain Medication Accelerates Growth of Cancer Tumors
(NaturalNews) Two recent studies analyzing the side effects of morphine have revealed that the chronic pain drug and other opiate-based pain medications contribute to the growth and spread of cancer cells. Dr. Patrick Singleton, Ph.D., author of the studies and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center, emphasized that the discovery could change the way cancer patients are treated for pain.
Morphine is a highly potent, highly addictive opiate analgesic that works by crossing the protective blood-brain barrier to get to the central nervous system where it alleviates a person's pain symptoms. Laboratory studies have revealed that a side effect to relieving pain is the prompting of cancer cells to replicate and proliferate throughout the body. Morphine also obstructs the body's immune response by decreasing the barrier function that protects the body from foreign invaders.
The late pharmacologist Leon Goldberg of the University of Chicago developed a solution drug called methylnaltrexone (MNTX) in the 1980s that blocks the negative side effects of morphine while preserving its pain relieving capabilities. Current research indicates that MNTX works in some way to preserve the "mu" opiate receptor functionality which blocks tumor growth. Morphine alone disrupts the mu receptor, instigating the spread of cancer.
If confirmed clinically, study authors believe the many findings concerning morphine and opiate-related cancer proliferation will significantly alter how morphine is used in cancer patients.
The inherent dangers of morphine and other opiate drugs was not mentioned in the studies. Even if the mechanism that encourages cancer growth can somehow be disabled, morphine is still an incredibly powerful, addictive drug that if misused even slightly can cause serious injury or death. Withdrawal symptoms from discontinuing its use can be difficult as is the detoxification period following its usage.
During the time when morphine is administered, the patient's brain slows or halts it production of endorphins which are no longer needed to establish well-being and happiness. When the drug ceases to be administered, severe depression can occur as the patient's brain needs time to readjust endorphin levels back to the proper amount.
No mention was made in the studies about any alternative methods of preventing and treating cancer. The use of harsh treatments like chemotherapy and radiation cause severe pain in which a person needs harsh painkillers in order to function somewhat normally. Alternative approaches that avoid harsh procedures and dangerous drugs should be considered as viable options.
Sources for this story include: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/sh...
Morphine is a highly potent, highly addictive opiate analgesic that works by crossing the protective blood-brain barrier to get to the central nervous system where it alleviates a person's pain symptoms. Laboratory studies have revealed that a side effect to relieving pain is the prompting of cancer cells to replicate and proliferate throughout the body. Morphine also obstructs the body's immune response by decreasing the barrier function that protects the body from foreign invaders.
The late pharmacologist Leon Goldberg of the University of Chicago developed a solution drug called methylnaltrexone (MNTX) in the 1980s that blocks the negative side effects of morphine while preserving its pain relieving capabilities. Current research indicates that MNTX works in some way to preserve the "mu" opiate receptor functionality which blocks tumor growth. Morphine alone disrupts the mu receptor, instigating the spread of cancer.
If confirmed clinically, study authors believe the many findings concerning morphine and opiate-related cancer proliferation will significantly alter how morphine is used in cancer patients.
The inherent dangers of morphine and other opiate drugs was not mentioned in the studies. Even if the mechanism that encourages cancer growth can somehow be disabled, morphine is still an incredibly powerful, addictive drug that if misused even slightly can cause serious injury or death. Withdrawal symptoms from discontinuing its use can be difficult as is the detoxification period following its usage.
During the time when morphine is administered, the patient's brain slows or halts it production of endorphins which are no longer needed to establish well-being and happiness. When the drug ceases to be administered, severe depression can occur as the patient's brain needs time to readjust endorphin levels back to the proper amount.
No mention was made in the studies about any alternative methods of preventing and treating cancer. The use of harsh treatments like chemotherapy and radiation cause severe pain in which a person needs harsh painkillers in order to function somewhat normally. Alternative approaches that avoid harsh procedures and dangerous drugs should be considered as viable options.
Sources for this story include: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/sh...
Friday, November 27, 2009
Common Pain Medication Fuels Cancer Growth
(NaturalNews) Painkillers known as opiates are widely used to treat both acute and chronic pain. Morphine, in particular, is often used to relieve the pain experienced by cancer patients. But now comes evidence from two new studies that strongly indicates opiate-based painkillers actually fuel the growth and spread of malignancies.
The research presented in Boston on November 18, 2009, at "Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics," a joint meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the National Cancer Institute, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, advances the concept that opiate drugs are cancer promoters. The research also explains how protecting cancer cells from opiates may reduce cell proliferation, invasion and migration.
The concept that opiate drugs used to help cancer patients might be contributing to cancer recurrence developed about eight years ago from several unrelated clinical and laboratory studies. First, a 2002 palliative care study found patients who received spinal rather than systemic pain relief from opiate drugs lived longer. A short time later, Jonathan Moss, professor of anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Chicago, reported that several cancer patients receiving a selective opiate blocker called methylnaltrexone (MNTX) which was developed in the 1980s to treat opiate-induced constipation lived far longer than they were expected to. Other studies had similar results.
"These were patients with advanced cancer and a life expectancy of one to two months yet several lived for another five or six. It made us wonder whether this was just a consequence of better GI function or could there possibly be an effect on the tumors," Moss said in a press statement.
Patrick A. Singleton, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center, along with Moss, Joe G.N. Garcia, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, and colleagues decided to investigate the many peripheral effects of opiates that might encourage cancer growth and the potential benefits of blocking those effects. In laboratory studies using both cell cultures and mice, the scientists found that morphine did directly rev up the proliferation of tumor cells. It also inhibited the immune response, and promoted angiogenesis (the growth of the blood vessels that help "feed" tumors and allow them to thrive). In the research just presented by Singleton and colleagues, they focused on the mu opiate receptor as a regulator of tumor growth and metastasis and they documented the ability of MNTX to block the cancer-promoting effects of opiates on this receptor.
Bottom line: it appears time for doctors and patients to consider all the side effects of opiate pain relievers, including the fact they may spur cancer to grow. Blocking the cancer-fueling ability of opiates and/or using them for as short a time as possible -- or not at all unless absolutely necessary -- appears to be the safest, and healthiest course of action.
For more information:
http://www.aacr.org/home/scientists...
The research presented in Boston on November 18, 2009, at "Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics," a joint meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the National Cancer Institute, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, advances the concept that opiate drugs are cancer promoters. The research also explains how protecting cancer cells from opiates may reduce cell proliferation, invasion and migration.
The concept that opiate drugs used to help cancer patients might be contributing to cancer recurrence developed about eight years ago from several unrelated clinical and laboratory studies. First, a 2002 palliative care study found patients who received spinal rather than systemic pain relief from opiate drugs lived longer. A short time later, Jonathan Moss, professor of anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Chicago, reported that several cancer patients receiving a selective opiate blocker called methylnaltrexone (MNTX) which was developed in the 1980s to treat opiate-induced constipation lived far longer than they were expected to. Other studies had similar results.
"These were patients with advanced cancer and a life expectancy of one to two months yet several lived for another five or six. It made us wonder whether this was just a consequence of better GI function or could there possibly be an effect on the tumors," Moss said in a press statement.
Patrick A. Singleton, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center, along with Moss, Joe G.N. Garcia, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, and colleagues decided to investigate the many peripheral effects of opiates that might encourage cancer growth and the potential benefits of blocking those effects. In laboratory studies using both cell cultures and mice, the scientists found that morphine did directly rev up the proliferation of tumor cells. It also inhibited the immune response, and promoted angiogenesis (the growth of the blood vessels that help "feed" tumors and allow them to thrive). In the research just presented by Singleton and colleagues, they focused on the mu opiate receptor as a regulator of tumor growth and metastasis and they documented the ability of MNTX to block the cancer-promoting effects of opiates on this receptor.
Bottom line: it appears time for doctors and patients to consider all the side effects of opiate pain relievers, including the fact they may spur cancer to grow. Blocking the cancer-fueling ability of opiates and/or using them for as short a time as possible -- or not at all unless absolutely necessary -- appears to be the safest, and healthiest course of action.
For more information:
http://www.aacr.org/home/scientists...
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