Canadian scientists say they’ve discovered that cancer cells spread by releasing protein “bubbles,” a finding that might alter our concept of how cancer works.
Janusz Rak, PhD, and colleagues at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center in collaboration with Ab Guha, PhD, of the University of Toronto, found that cancer cells communicate with healthy cells by releasing “vesicles” – bubble-like structures containing cancer-causing proteins – that can trigger specific mechanisms when they merge into non-malignant cells. Rak said the finding demonstrates that cancer is a multi-cell process, where the cells “talk” to one another extensively.
Until now, scientists had assumed that cancer is caused by a single cell developing damage or a mutation, followed by a runaway reproduction of that cancerous cell. Instead, it appears that a cancerous cell “tricks” healthy (or healthier) cells in other areas to become cancerous.
“This goes against the traditional view that a single ‘mutated’ cell will simply multiply uncontrollably to the point of forming a tumour,” said Rak. “This discovery opens exciting new research avenues, but we also hope that it will lead to positive outcomes for patients.” The study appears in the current online edition of the journal Nature Cell Biology.
WINE A CURB FOR PANCREATIC CANCER?
Resveratrol, a compound found in the skin of red grapes and red wine, may help induce pancreatic cancer cells to malfunction and die, a lab study has found. A handful of foods, including raspberries, blueberries and peanuts, contain resveratrol, but it is most abundant in the skin of red grapes and, therefore, red wine.
Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York treated human pancreatic cancer cells with resveratrol – alone and in the presence of radiation – and found that, combined with radiation, resveratrol disrupted the activity of the cancer cells’ mitochondria (energy-producing centres needed for cells to function).
Readers will have heard of several previous studies on the potential antioxidant benefits of resveratrol with respect to longevity or heart disease prevention. The recent study is different in that it suggests this red wine compound may help disrupt the progress of pancreatic cancer.
Until there are further studies in animals, what the results mean for cancer patients will not be clear. It is important to note that this was a lab study and there is no evidence yet as to whether resveratrol from red wine would affect tumours in the body the same way it does cancer cells in a lab dish. Resveratrol is available in over-the-counter supplements but there is no evidence that taking them aids cancer treatment.
The study team stressed that it used a relatively high dose of resveratrol of 50 micrograms per milliliter – about twice the concentration found in red wine. The study appears in the March 2008 edition of the journal Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology.
REISHI-GREEN TEA COMBO FIGHTS SARCOMA
Both the reishi mushroom and green tea have held a place in traditional medicine, in China and other Asian countries, for the general promotion of health. Recent scientific studies have confirmed that either reishi or green tea can enhance the body’s immune functions, holding potential for prevention of many types of cancer.
Now a study by Chinese scientists has found that combining the active ingredients in the reishi mushroom and green tea creates synergetic effects that inhibit the growth of tumours and delay death in mice with sarcomas. (Sarcomas are usually-malignant tumours in connective tissue such as bone or muscle.)
Yan Zhang, of Pharmanex BJ Clinical Pharmacology Center in Beijing, reported the results of two studies at the Experimental Biology 2008 conference in San Diego on April 8.
In one case, the weight of cancerous sarcoma cells was reduced by 45 per cent when the mice were given a high-potency combination of extracts from reishi and green tea (polysaccharides and triterpenes from the mushroom and tea polyphenols from the tea) compared to those receiving either extract alone. Also, death was delayed in mice who received the combination compared with mice on either reishi or green tea extracts alone. The effect on sarcoma, one of the four main types of cancer, seems to be a synergistic one, says the senior author of the paper, Jia-Shi Zhu, PhD, of Pharmanex research Institute in Provo, Utah.
PRENATAL VITAMINS CUT CANCER RISK IN HALF
A new study has found that many hundreds of Canadian children a year in Canada could be spared devastating forms of cancer if women who are pregnant or trying to conceive take a prenatal multivitamin fortified with folic acid.
Of course, there have been numerous studies showing the importance of taking folic acid supplements during pregnancy but this latest study is significant because it is goes beyond the well-accepted link between insufficient folate during pregnancy and neural tube defects (defects of the brain and spine, including spina bifida). Also, this study is believed to be the largest of its kind ever undertaken, pulling together the data from seven previous studies into one review.
The Canadian study shows that expectant women who take folic acid supplements during the first trimester of pregnancy can lower the risk in their children of leukemia, brain tumours, and neuroblastoma. (Neuroblastoma is one of the most devastating cancers in the young. A solid tumour, it can occur anywhere in the body but usually arises in the adrenal gland, which sits above the kidney. Neuroblastoma affects one in every 6,000 to 7,000 children in North America. Leukemia, on the other hand, accounts for 25 to 35% of new childhood cancer cases each year, making it the most frequently diagnosed pediatric cancer.)
According to researchers at Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, the study found the multivitamins were associated with a 47% risk reduction for neuroblastoma, 39% for leukemia and 27% for brain tumours. Combined, these three cancers affect about 1,000 children a year in Canada alone.
It is not known which vitamins or minerals, and in what amounts, could be protecting babies from cancer. But folic acid, which plays a crucial role in cellular function, may be acting alone. One theory is that a shortage of folic acid may impair DNA’s synthesis and repair, or may change the way genes that normally suppress or turn on cancer, or turn cancer off, are read.
Last year, the “Sick Kids” team, working with researchers from London, Ontario, reported that folic-acid-fortified multivitamin supplements consistently protect babies against other congenital anomalies, including the condition commonly called “a hole in the heart,” limb defects, cleft palate and hydrocephalus (water buildup on the brain that can lead to irreversible brain damage).
Only 40 to 50% of Canadian women take prenatal vitamins. The new study was published in the April 23, 2008 issue of the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
NEWSNOTES
HEALTHNOTES
8 glasses a day—and other water myths
Contrary to popular belief—and contrary to the prescription for health in many health articles—drinking up to eight glasses of water a day might not be beneficial for your health, researchers say.
(News Briefs has reported on other studies coming to the same conclusion but the most recent study is important because first, it adds further weight to the conclusion that thirst is the best guide to water consumption; and second, it included a review of all previous studies on this topic.)
Stanley Goldfarb, PhD, and Dan Negoianu, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia reviewed all the studies dealing with the healthy benefits of drinking lots of water. Their review, published in the April 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
“There is no clear evidence of benefit from drinking increased amounts of water,” Dr. Goldfarb wrote. Goldfarb and Negoianu analyzed the “four major myths” regarding the benefits of extra water drinking: that it leads to more toxin excretion, improves skin tone, makes one less hungry; and reduces headache frequency. Their conclusions? There is no evidence of any of these beliefs and they are merely folklore.
The idea that we all need the same amount of water or that we require a “minimum” of eight glasses a day was also found to be untrue in several previous studies, as was the often-asserted idea that we need to get water by drinking straight water. Our bodies determine water needs based on how much is excreted; and it pulls water out of all types of drinks and foods, which are almost completely water anyway. In fact, some people have died from drinking too much water.
The idea that coffee is dehydrating was also found in a study to be without merit; the dehydration effect of the coffee is more than compensated for by the water content of the beverage itself. Alcohol does have a dehydrating effect, however, one that is rectified the following day when you wake up with a thirst that won’t quit.
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