By Debbie Nicholson
Sharks are labeled with a bad persona. Mainly due to movies like "Jaws" where they go around and chomp down for a nightly feast on any human or animal they can find. There are one million slaughters going on each year on this creature. However, these creatures of the sea have the ability to aide in certain medical conditions such as anemia, brain bleeding and cancer.
Scientists for decades have been studying the shark, well at least his cartilage. They believe this creature has something that can offer the medical community especially in the treatment of cancer. It is a known fact that sharks hardly ever get cancer. There must be something in their bodies that aide in protection from this disease.
The theory of the shark cartilage and cancer among most of the scientific community is having to do specifically with the composition of the cartilage. For one thing cartilage cannot grow cancer due to the fact it has no blood vessels. The theory is that the cartilage manufactures elements that barricade the growing of new blood vessels that would feed on the tumor. So by using the cartilage to treat the tumor the blood vessels then should be stopped from developing on the tumor.
A study was performed to scientifically prove or disprove the theory of shark cartilage. Nine patients had participated in this study. When the study had been completed the evidence indicated that seven of the nine patients who had advanced cancer there was an 87% positive response from the treatment. It is important to note that no other treatment was applied during this study.
The evidence laid out had shown the following results (in brief form here after seven weeks of treatment and all patients were diagnosed as terminal)
A few results:
Female patient stage three uterine cancer going into bladder. Radiation had no effects on the tumor. After seven weeks of the cartilage the tumor reduced in size by 80% and after eleven weeks the tumor had gone and so did her pain. The only remaining factor was scar tissue.
Female with vaginal hemangioma in size of 5"x 5" after hysterectomy and partial vaginectomy along with radiation. Heavy bleeding was life threatening complication. At seven weeks tumor reduced by 60% and bleeding had stopped. At eleven weeks tumor size was 3"x 3" with further treatment it was stated tumor would appear to decrease.
Male stage three cancer on back of right thigh. After nine weeks of cartilage therapy surgery was done. It was noticed that 60% of the tumor was dead and surgically removed.
The summary of this research had indicated that further research was still required but shark cartilage treatments had displayed promise.
Studies on shark cartilage are still being conducted however, these studies are extremely expensive. At the same time environmentalists are advocating for the shark and making the fact known that the shark population has decreased significantly in the prior fifteen years due to over fishing and the ever on going demand for shark products.
The compounds of the shark cartilage are being tested by a few pharmaceutical companies. If developed it would only be able to be available by prescription and it is stated the cartilage is coming from those sharks who have been slaughtered for meat.
Shark cartilage in research has shown it can help alleviate arthritis symptoms. In all reality scientists had determined it is one of the main components in the shark cartilage which is chondroitin sulfate that is the magic behind the alleviation. To make a note the supplements which are sold in health food stores usually come from cows and that of sharks.
Shark cartilage has demonstrated benefits in patients with arthritis. It decrease joint pain and inflammation which enabled patients to use less pain relievers. Good news is a lot of persons who use it in small doses have no major problems. Some can have side effects which include nausea, vomiting, cramping, can lower blood pressure and raise sugar levels. Pregnant women, children and those recovering from surgery are advised against using the product. It has been validated for use in osteoporosis.
Shark cartilage has also been noted to be used for psoriasis, healing wounds, retina damage due to diabetes and inflammation of the intestines. The FDA has given the cartilage "Orphan Drug Status"for renal cell carcinoma. This law allows drug pharmaceuticals special incentives to study drugs for rare conditions.
Currently there has been no reported cases for drug interactions of this product. Doses are dependent on a variety of factors such as age, health and other conditions. There is no current information for proper dosage of this product. Follow directions on label and consult health practitioner before using this product.
Shark liver oil is also being used to treat health conditions. The liver oil is either brown or yellow in appearance. Fisherman for a very long time have used the oil for health treatments. The oil is an abundant source alkyiglycerols which just possibly contain anti-cancer elements. There are currently two other chemicals in the oil which are being studied for cancer they are squalene and squalamine.
Shark liver oil is vastly used in northern Europe as one of the conventional cancer treatments. However, in the United States it is sold as a dietary supplement. Current research is aiming at the components of the oil alkyiglycerols, squalene and squalamone. Past scientific studies have demonstrated the oil possibly has anti-cancer reactions on tumors in animals. Clinical trails based on if it works in humans are currently being studied.
We do know that shark liver oil aides in heightening the immune system, fighting infections, in cancer treatments (northern Europe) and decreases side effects of conventional cancer treatments.
The theory of the alkyiglycerols provide benefits in several different ways. It has been proposed that when fighting cancer they kill off the tumor cells indirectly. Advocates allege they stimulate the immune system by activation of immune cells (macrophages) that eat germs that are trying to penetrate along with damaged cells. The other way is that they have the ability to lessen side effects from chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This is due to the fact they can guard the cell membrane.
Due to the ability to heighten the immune system, there are claims that they provide protection against colds, flu, chronic infections, asthma, arthritis and AIDS.
Previous studies have demonstrated that squalamine can slow down the growing of tumor blood vessels. Advocates lay claim that it just possibly could treat cancer either independently or with chemotherapy. It is currently in studies for macular degeneration, eye condition in which ends in vision loss. Squalene is advocated to having cell protection ability which in turn could possibly lessen side effects that occur from chemotherapy.
All claims to shark liver oil are currently being researched.
Based on how the oil is prepared for commercial use it possibly can be loaded with omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin A. The oil has been used in already in some moisturizing skin creams and lotions. Just to note some cosmetic companies have removed the ingredient over concern for the decline in the shark population.
The shark liver oil is being sold in capsules and liquid forms. You can purchase it at many of the health food stores and over the internet.
To clarify a few points in the shark liver oil. There is no current evidence that the supplement are effective to treat cancer. There have been a couple of studies that did present some benefit to women who were having radiation therapy for cervical cancer. There has been no other confirmed research in this area since 1980.
Recent studies have demonstrated squalamine has lessened the amounts of lung metastases, tumors in which spread to lungs from a primary cancer which is elsewhere in the body and this was found in animals. Studies conducted early in humans did show it can be used safely with chemotherapy. It is still not determined if it does shrink the tumor or prolongs survival of patients. It is undergoing studies with other treatments for lung and prostate cancers.
Some side effects include nausea and upset stomachs have been noted. In animal studies it had shown it could raise blood pressure. If you are allergic to seafood you could have a reaction.
The dosage for shark liver oil is also undetermined at this time so it is advisable to talk with your practitioner first.
Please do not use this product on its own current merit solely. It is used to aide in other treatments and best used with the advice of your health care practitioner.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
AstraZeneca joins UCL to find stem cell cure for diabetic blindness
* Julia Kollewe
12 September 2010
AstraZeneca and University College London (UCL) will announce a research partnership tomorrow to develop medicines that use stem cells to repair damaged eyesight in people with diabetes.
Under the three-year deal funded by the drugmaker, researchers from AstraZeneca will team up with scientists at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology to work on new medicines that use the regenerative capacity of stem cells. They hope to come up with a compound in three to five years, which could then undergo clinical development and possibly be on the market in 10 years' time.
Dr Marcus Fruttiger of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, who is leading the project, said: "These tools could be used either to manufacture transplantable material or to directly stimulate new cell growth in the eye to help restore or improve the vision of those with diabetic retinopathy [DR]."
DR is now the most common cause of vision impairment or blindness among western people of working age. The majority of patients with type-1 diabetes, which occurs when the body produces no insulin and often develops during the teenage years, will suffer eyesight problems and about 20%-30% will become blind. Moreover, at least 50% of patients with type-2 diabetes – the far more common type of diabetes, which occurs when the body produces too little insulin or when cells in the body do not react properly to insulin – will also develop retinopathy over time.
With the rapid spread of type-2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity, the need for a retinopathy treatment will grow as more than 438 million people are expected to suffer from diabetes by 2030. A study published this year by Oxford University predicted that eight out of 10 men and almost seven in 10 women will be overweight or obese by 2020. It forecast a 98% rise in obesity-related diabetes by 2050.
Alan Lamont, director of sciences and technology alliances at AstraZeneca. said: "We're getting very keen on the whole area of regenerative medicines and they will be part of our research development over the next few years." He said the collaboration aimed to come up with a treatment that could be administered to the back of the eye to repair damage locally.
AstraZeneca's US rival Pfizer also has a partnership with Professor Pete Coffey of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, for another eye condition, macular degeneration. Coffey said: "It's great that 'Big Pharma' is considering regenerative medicines as a serious possibility." He added: "This is British science being developed into a commercial entity with the pharmaceutical industry. It's a good example why the government shouldn't cut funding for biomedical research."
While this is the first time that AstraZeneca has worked on medicine for retinopathy, diabetes has been an area of focus. The company has a new diabetes treatment on the market called Onglyza, which was developed with Bristol-Myers Squibb, and the companies are developing a second diabetes drug that could be submitted to regulators for approval later this year.
12 September 2010
AstraZeneca and University College London (UCL) will announce a research partnership tomorrow to develop medicines that use stem cells to repair damaged eyesight in people with diabetes.
Under the three-year deal funded by the drugmaker, researchers from AstraZeneca will team up with scientists at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology to work on new medicines that use the regenerative capacity of stem cells. They hope to come up with a compound in three to five years, which could then undergo clinical development and possibly be on the market in 10 years' time.
Dr Marcus Fruttiger of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, who is leading the project, said: "These tools could be used either to manufacture transplantable material or to directly stimulate new cell growth in the eye to help restore or improve the vision of those with diabetic retinopathy [DR]."
DR is now the most common cause of vision impairment or blindness among western people of working age. The majority of patients with type-1 diabetes, which occurs when the body produces no insulin and often develops during the teenage years, will suffer eyesight problems and about 20%-30% will become blind. Moreover, at least 50% of patients with type-2 diabetes – the far more common type of diabetes, which occurs when the body produces too little insulin or when cells in the body do not react properly to insulin – will also develop retinopathy over time.
With the rapid spread of type-2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity, the need for a retinopathy treatment will grow as more than 438 million people are expected to suffer from diabetes by 2030. A study published this year by Oxford University predicted that eight out of 10 men and almost seven in 10 women will be overweight or obese by 2020. It forecast a 98% rise in obesity-related diabetes by 2050.
Alan Lamont, director of sciences and technology alliances at AstraZeneca. said: "We're getting very keen on the whole area of regenerative medicines and they will be part of our research development over the next few years." He said the collaboration aimed to come up with a treatment that could be administered to the back of the eye to repair damage locally.
AstraZeneca's US rival Pfizer also has a partnership with Professor Pete Coffey of the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, for another eye condition, macular degeneration. Coffey said: "It's great that 'Big Pharma' is considering regenerative medicines as a serious possibility." He added: "This is British science being developed into a commercial entity with the pharmaceutical industry. It's a good example why the government shouldn't cut funding for biomedical research."
While this is the first time that AstraZeneca has worked on medicine for retinopathy, diabetes has been an area of focus. The company has a new diabetes treatment on the market called Onglyza, which was developed with Bristol-Myers Squibb, and the companies are developing a second diabetes drug that could be submitted to regulators for approval later this year.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Federal stem cell ruling blocks Yale scientists
By Rachel Gilmore
For two decades, Lawrence Rizzolo, the director of medical studies at the Yale School of Medicine, has been working toward a project that aims to transplant young, healthy retinal cells to replace diseased tissues in the eyes of patients who are going blind.
But now Rizzolo fears he may have to delay, or even stop, his research because of last week’s ruling by a federal judge that prevents federal funding for studies involving embryonic stem cells, the building blocks for human organs and tissues that Rizzolo needs for his project.
Rizzolo had applied for a grant from the National Institutes of Health to replace his funding from the nonprofit International Retinal Research Foundation, which ends in December. Rizzolo also has a three-year state grant from Rocky Hill, Conn.-based state holding company Connecticut Innovations, but he says he cannot continue his research without the federal funding.
Rizzolo’s laboratory is one of about a dozen facilities on campus that use stem cells. Haifan Lin, director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, said he did not yet know how the moratorium will affect Yale researchers.
“We’re all waiting for clarification on the implications of the judge’s ruling,” University President Richard Levin said.
But frozen funding could lead scientists to lose their jobs. Rizzolo said that although a fourth researcher will join his laboratory in October, he may soon have to fire his workers because the grants and not the University pay for his researchers’ salaries.
Although the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a motion seeking to delay the federal judge’s ban on funding, the relief would only be temporary, NIH spokesman Don Ralbovsky said. The Justice Department declined to comment Thursday.
Opponents of embryonic stem cell research have hailed the ruling.
“The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life,” said Steven Aden, the legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advised the party that brought the lawsuit to court.
Most labs at Yale’s Stem Cell Center are supported primarily by state funds, which are not affected by the ruling, said Diane Krause, the center’s assistant director. But, she explained, those state grants were meant to be a springboard for acquiring federal funding.
“Discontinuation of NIH funding of work with human embryonic stem cells could be a disaster,” she said.
School of Medicine Dean Robert Alpern agreed, saying that halting the stem cell research would be a “loss to society.”
Krause and other Yale researchers met Aug. 26 with Connecticut attorney general and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73, who told the News this week that he plans to file a brief in support of the appeal.
“It is incredibly important for our scientific and legislative leaders to come together and solve this issue quickly,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “We have already lost so many years of work to backwards-looking and bureaucratic federal policy.”
Linda McMahon, his Republican challenger for Chris Dodd’s Senate seat, also supports stem cell research, according to her website. The McMahon campaign did not respond to multiple phone requests for comment this week.
Even if the Justice Department successfully delays the ruling, NIH has not said whether it would accept new applications. That would be a problem for Yibing Qyang, an assistant professor of cardiology at the School of Medicine who currently has a $95,499 federal grant and had planned on applying for another in October.
“I cannot live without federal funding,” said Qyang, who is priming stem cells to become healthy heart cells in patients with heart disease.
Yale has received at least $17 million in state funding from a $100 million stem cell research pot funded in part by tobacco taxes. It also received $4.9 million in NIH stem cell research grants in 2009 and 2010. NIH gave $123 million to researchers in fiscal year 2010 for embryonic stem cell research, Ralbovsky said.
Rizzolo studies eye tissues called retinal pigment epithelia. Many eye diseases — including macular degeneration, from which more than 10 million Americans suffer — affect these tissues, which function as a support for the retina, the part of the eye responsible for sight. Doctors have tried to transplant retinal and epithelial cells to combat these diseases. But most of the transplants fail because they are risky and the patients who choose to undergo them are usually almost blind. Patients in the early stages of macular degeneration are unlikely to attempt a transplant; Rizzolo said he hopes that his research with stem cells, which he started to use about a year ago, would lead to other, less risky, treatments for the disease.
Rizzolo added that, in the past year, two Yale colleagues had entirely shut down their stem-cell research labs because of funding shortages.
“It’s pretty frustrating when you work so hard to see something go unfunded for political reasons,” he said.
The Yale Stem Cell Center, established in 2006, brings together more than 30 faculty members across the University.
For two decades, Lawrence Rizzolo, the director of medical studies at the Yale School of Medicine, has been working toward a project that aims to transplant young, healthy retinal cells to replace diseased tissues in the eyes of patients who are going blind.
But now Rizzolo fears he may have to delay, or even stop, his research because of last week’s ruling by a federal judge that prevents federal funding for studies involving embryonic stem cells, the building blocks for human organs and tissues that Rizzolo needs for his project.
Rizzolo had applied for a grant from the National Institutes of Health to replace his funding from the nonprofit International Retinal Research Foundation, which ends in December. Rizzolo also has a three-year state grant from Rocky Hill, Conn.-based state holding company Connecticut Innovations, but he says he cannot continue his research without the federal funding.
Rizzolo’s laboratory is one of about a dozen facilities on campus that use stem cells. Haifan Lin, director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, said he did not yet know how the moratorium will affect Yale researchers.
“We’re all waiting for clarification on the implications of the judge’s ruling,” University President Richard Levin said.
But frozen funding could lead scientists to lose their jobs. Rizzolo said that although a fourth researcher will join his laboratory in October, he may soon have to fire his workers because the grants and not the University pay for his researchers’ salaries.
Although the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a motion seeking to delay the federal judge’s ban on funding, the relief would only be temporary, NIH spokesman Don Ralbovsky said. The Justice Department declined to comment Thursday.
Opponents of embryonic stem cell research have hailed the ruling.
“The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life,” said Steven Aden, the legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advised the party that brought the lawsuit to court.
Most labs at Yale’s Stem Cell Center are supported primarily by state funds, which are not affected by the ruling, said Diane Krause, the center’s assistant director. But, she explained, those state grants were meant to be a springboard for acquiring federal funding.
“Discontinuation of NIH funding of work with human embryonic stem cells could be a disaster,” she said.
School of Medicine Dean Robert Alpern agreed, saying that halting the stem cell research would be a “loss to society.”
Krause and other Yale researchers met Aug. 26 with Connecticut attorney general and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73, who told the News this week that he plans to file a brief in support of the appeal.
“It is incredibly important for our scientific and legislative leaders to come together and solve this issue quickly,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “We have already lost so many years of work to backwards-looking and bureaucratic federal policy.”
Linda McMahon, his Republican challenger for Chris Dodd’s Senate seat, also supports stem cell research, according to her website. The McMahon campaign did not respond to multiple phone requests for comment this week.
Even if the Justice Department successfully delays the ruling, NIH has not said whether it would accept new applications. That would be a problem for Yibing Qyang, an assistant professor of cardiology at the School of Medicine who currently has a $95,499 federal grant and had planned on applying for another in October.
“I cannot live without federal funding,” said Qyang, who is priming stem cells to become healthy heart cells in patients with heart disease.
Yale has received at least $17 million in state funding from a $100 million stem cell research pot funded in part by tobacco taxes. It also received $4.9 million in NIH stem cell research grants in 2009 and 2010. NIH gave $123 million to researchers in fiscal year 2010 for embryonic stem cell research, Ralbovsky said.
Rizzolo studies eye tissues called retinal pigment epithelia. Many eye diseases — including macular degeneration, from which more than 10 million Americans suffer — affect these tissues, which function as a support for the retina, the part of the eye responsible for sight. Doctors have tried to transplant retinal and epithelial cells to combat these diseases. But most of the transplants fail because they are risky and the patients who choose to undergo them are usually almost blind. Patients in the early stages of macular degeneration are unlikely to attempt a transplant; Rizzolo said he hopes that his research with stem cells, which he started to use about a year ago, would lead to other, less risky, treatments for the disease.
Rizzolo added that, in the past year, two Yale colleagues had entirely shut down their stem-cell research labs because of funding shortages.
“It’s pretty frustrating when you work so hard to see something go unfunded for political reasons,” he said.
The Yale Stem Cell Center, established in 2006, brings together more than 30 faculty members across the University.
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