New
Compounds Fight Prostate Cancer
Agents that mimic Chinese herbal
remedy kill parasites, cancer cells
-- Robert Preidt
TUESDAY,
Aug. 24 (HealthDayNews) -- Several new compounds modeled on an
ancient Chinese folk remedy show promise in fighting malaria and
some forms of cancer, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore.
"Preliminary
data show that our laboratory-synthesized compounds have a
therapeutic index -- the measure of a drug's safety and efficacy
-- that is better, in some cases, many times better, in rodents
than the drugs currently considered the gold standard for
chemotherapy of both malaria and prostate cancer," Gary
Posner, Scowe Professor of Chemistry at Hopkins' Krieger School
of Arts and Sciences, said in a prepared statement.
"These
results are preliminary, but exciting, and certainly worth
pursuing," Posner said.
The
compounds he and his colleagues designed, called trioxanes, are
meant to mimic the action of the active agent in the Artemisia
annua, or wormwood, plant. The plant has been used in China for
thousands of years to treat malaria and other fevers.
In
tests on the malaria parasite, one trioxane compound proved six
or seven times as effective in killing the organism than sodium
artesunate, one of the most effective antimalarials commonly
used today.
And
in a second experiment, another trioxane was three times as
effective in attacking prostate cancer cells in mice, compared
with two leading chemotherapy agents, Gemzar and Adriamycin.
The
research was presented Aug. 24 at the annual meeting of the
American Chemical Society in Philadelphia.
SOURCE: Johns Hopkins University, news release, Aug. 24, 2004
This is a story from HealthDay,
a service of ScoutNews, LLC.
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New
Compounds Fight Prostate Cancer
Agents that mimic Chinese herbal
remedy kill parasites, cancer cells
-- Robert Preidt
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Prostate
Cancer Alternatives, Lowering Your PSA Naturally, New
Compounds Fight Prostate Cancer
Agents that mimic Chinese herbal
remedy kill parasites, cancer cells
-- Robert Preidt
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