Israeli scientists find stroke drug could help cure cancer
'We can now give a much more aggressive treatment without worrying about harming healthy tissues.'
By Ofri Ilani Tags: Tel Aviv University Israel news cancerIsraeli scientists have identified a substance that can kill cancerous cells without harming healthy ones, paving the way for more effective cancer treatment.
The findings by researchers at Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, were published in the current issue of the international peer-reviewed journal Breast Cancer Research.
"We actually found the Achilles heel of the cancer cell," said Prof. Malka Cohen-Armon from Tel Aviv University, who headed the research team. "As soon as you can target cancerous cells without killing healthy ones, you can produce medications that would cause a lot less suffering to the patient. We can even give a much more aggressive treatment without worrying about harming healthy tissues."
The substance identified by the researchers, which delays cell proliferation in healthy and cancerous cells, is a component of a drug developed a decade ago to preserve nerve cells and prevent them from dying after a stroke.
But while the drug causes the rapid death of cancer cells, healthy cells activate a mechanism that overcomes the delay in proliferation within hours, and those cells continue to proliferate exactly like cells not exposed to the substance.
Cohen-Armon said the drug's effectiveness in treating cancer cells was discovered accidentally.
"I'm not even a cancer researcher," she said. "But two years ago an article we published on various functions in the cell got me interested in cancer cells."
She said the scientists involved in the discovery - who include doctoral student Asher Castiel and Professor Shai Izraeli's research group at the Sheba Cancer Research Center - haven't figured out why the drug affects the cells the way it does.
"We don't even fully understand why this is happening, but we see cancerous cells die and healthy cells overcome this obstacle," said Cohen-Armon. "They somehow find a way to proliferate even in the presence of the substance."
She said the drug was tested on several types of cancer, but so far only the breast cancer tests results have been published.
The experiment has been carried out on female mice, which were injected with human cancerous cells. The substance was gradually released over two weeks. The mice that weren't treated with the substance developed malignant tumors - but in those that got the treatment, the substance either prevented or significantly stalled the development of the cancerous cells.
The experiments did not find any changes in the behavior of the mice treated with the substance.
One of the obstacles to applying the discovery to all forms of cancer is that the medicine is registered as a patent of an American pharmaceutical company. Tel Aviv University's technology transfer company, Ramot, has secured a usage patent enabling it to develop the drug to treat only breast cancer.
The future development of the drug depends on the goodwill of the American company, or on another company developing a similar substance.
"We really want to develop this drug, but there are some completely non-scientific obstacles," Cohen-Armon said. "I hope the research doesn't fade away because of that."
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http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/11/6/r78 phenanthridine derived polyADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors
Cannabis oil doesn't just help cure cancer, it actually cures cancer and most diseases. But, because it is so easy to grow and so easy to make cannabis oil, it is a threat to the multi-billion dollar cancer industry and the trillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry - therefore, the above-mentioned industries lobby governments to keep cannabis illegal.
This is not a forum for haters, it is for those who are interested in cancer. Israel haters are all using technology and drugs and medicine developed by jews so stop being hypocrites and have some love in your heart and make the world a better place.
Aren?t you the one who gasped at the thought of Israel keeping medical statistics by ethnicity? And didn?t you say that Germany doesn?t do that? You know little about your own country. All modern countries keep medical statistics based on race, ethnicity, gender, etc. They do so to study risk factors, among other reasons. Germany is no exception. Get over your obsession with Israel. Go study your own country and leave Israel alone.
Yes, and most of these German Nobel Prize winners were Jews! By the way, in spite of what the Nazis did in WWII, today I love and respect Germany, because today's Germany has accepted their wrongdoings in WWII and is Israel's true friend in Europe. However, TOMY is right. I visited Weitzman and beleive me it is VERY impressive...
Interesting whether the Israeli researchers can get some kind of patent for the cancer application. They would then have to enter a cross-licensing agreement which would be beneficial to both companies. Or just let the bigger company buy them.
Before posting that post just google ignorant. 1970 Katz, Bernard Germany 1964 Bloch, Konrad Germany 1953 Krebs, Hans Adolf Germany 1953 Lipmann, Fritz Albert Germany 1945 Chain, Ernst Boris Germany 1922 Meyerhof, Otto Fritz Germany 1908 Ehrlich, Paul Germany
Well Axel Here is one more scientist you can brag about he is posted on the German 200 Mark Bill By the way, Do you know who that person is? Anyway if we are talking about German Scientists who won the Nobel Prize for medicine, Do check up Otto Fritz Meyerhof, Who had to flee Germany and France, Why? Don`t know something to do with WWII! Makes one think how many more ``German`` Nobel Prize winners for Medicine the world has lost!
Given that Nobel awards for the sciences are given for work done after many years, it is not unreasonable that Israel has not as of yet won more prizes in medicine since Jewish learning was free to concentrate elsewhere (notably the US) while Jews were preoccupied building our country here. However, if you look through the Nobel award winners you will notice that, more or less it appears that 1 Jew appears to win each year from other countries. Times have changed as the world Jewish population has shifted to Israel - Stay tuned for the future. ? 2009 - Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, Jack W. Szostak ? 2008 - Harald zur Hausen, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Luc Montagnier ? 2007 - Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans, Oliver Smithies ? 2006 - Andrew Z. Fire, Craig C. Mello ? 2005 - Barry J. Marshall, J. Robin Warren ? 2004 - Richard Axel, Linda B. Buck ? 2003 - Paul C. Lauterbur, Sir Peter Mansfield ? 2002 - Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz, John E. Sulston ? 2001 - Leland H. Hartwell, Tim Hunt, Sir Paul Nurse ? 2000 - Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, Eric R. Kandel ? 1999 - Günter Blobel ? 1998 - Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, Ferid Murad ? 1997 - Stanley B. Prusiner ? 1996 - Peter C. Doherty, Rolf M. Zinkernagel ? 1995 - Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Eric F. Wieschaus ? 1994 - Alfred G. Gilman, Martin Rodbell ? 1993 - Richard J. Roberts, Phillip A. Sharp ? 1992 - Edmond H. Fischer, Edwin G. Krebs ? 1991 - Erwin Neher, Bert Sakmann ? 1990 - Joseph E. Murray, E. Donnall Thomas ? 1989 - J. Michael Bishop, Harold E. Varmus ? 1988 - Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion, George H. Hitchings ? 1987 - Susumu Tonegawa ? 1986 - Stanley Cohen, Rita Levi-Montalcini ? 1985 - Michael S. Brown, Joseph L. Goldstein ? 1984 - Niels K. Jerne, Georges J.F. Köhler, César Milstein ? 1983 - Barbara McClintock ? 1982 - Sune K. Bergström, Bengt I. Samuelsson, John R. Vane ? 1981 - Roger W. Sperry, David H. Hubel, Torsten N. Wiesel ? 1980 - Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset, George D. Snell ? 1979 - Allan M. Cormack, Godfrey N. Hounsfield ? 1978 - Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton O. Smith ? 1977 - Roger Guillemin, Andrew V. Schally, Rosalyn Yalow ? 1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg, D. Carleton Gajdusek ? 1975 - David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco, Howard M. Temin ? 1974 - Albert Claude, Christian de Duve, George E. Palade ? 1973 - Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen ? 1972 - Gerald M. Edelman, Rodney R. Porter ? 1971 - Earl W. Sutherland, Jr. ? 1970 - Sir Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler, Julius Axelrod ? 1969 - Max Delbrück, Alfred D. Hershey, Salvador E. Luria ? 1968 - Robert W. Holley, H. Gobind Khorana, Marshall W. Nirenberg ? 1967 - Ragnar Granit, Haldan K. Hartline, George Wald ? 1966 - Peyton Rous, Charles B. Huggins ? 1965 - François Jacob, André Lwoff, Jacques Monod ? 1964 - Konrad Bloch, Feodor Lynen ? 1963 - Sir John Eccles, Alan L. Hodgkin, Andrew F. Huxley ? 1962 - Francis Crick, James Watson, Maurice Wilkins ? 1961 - Georg von Békésy ? 1960 - Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Peter Medawar ? 1959 - Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg ? 1958 - George Beadle, Edward Tatum, Joshua Lederberg ? 1957 - Daniel Bovet ? 1956 - André F. Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson W. Richards ? 1955 - Hugo Theorell ? 1954 - John F. Enders, Thomas H. Weller, Frederick C. Robbins ? 1953 - Hans Krebs, Fritz Lipmann ? 1952 - Selman A. Waksman ? 1951 - Max Theiler ? 1950 - Edward C. Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein, Philip S. Hench ? 1949 - Walter Hess, Egas Moniz ? 1948 - Paul Müller
The article is lucid and conveys the essential information well. Reading several articles available including one cited by another forum correspondent as well as the summary at http://7thspace.com/headlines/323064/a_selective_eradication_of_human_non_hereditary_breast_cancer_cells_by_phenanthridine_derived_polyadp_ribose_polymerase_inhibitors.html reveals that Ilani has done an excellent job of cutting through the jargon and conveying the important facts. All to often I see technical materials badly misrepresented by news writers. It is a pleasure to see such a fine article.
Thank you Israel for your gifts to the world community. May God Almighty always preserve and protect the Israeli people.
In any event, the Israel psyche would never ever prevent anybody from using such an obviously beneficial medication. That's the difference in the universal humanitarian approach contrasted by the maniacal and self-destructive attitude.
The information was enlightening about the scope of the potential treatment. This is a potential breakthrough, and a case of serendipity being recognized and pursued by an astute researcher. It is also clear we shall not see it in use until the actions of the drug are better understood. One thing it is not is grounds for political attack by anyone.
I wonder how the trials involving other cancers are coming?
"there is nothing like it in the world , not even in Deutchland" Learn these two differences: 1)Since the creation of Israel, German scientists got 7 Nobel prizes for Medecine, Israeli scientists none. 2) We need not send bragging comments about how great our scientific institutions are ...
I did , and must tell you , there is nothing like it in the world , not even in Deutchland , regardless of your hart aches and tormented spirit while reading about Israeli and Jewish ubermench worldwide . Did I spell it right ? You know it better .
Reading the article wholly would have answered your question: "the medicine is registered as a patent of an American pharmaceutical company." Israel has not the slightest power of control where, how, and by whom the drug is used.
...of the drug depends of the goodwill of the American company(the text). I hope it is not he question of the money. The real threats of the life of today are f.e the deseases. Still the amount of the money used for the health care is not comparable at all what is used for the military purposes.
http://blog.taragana.com/health/2009/11/05/new-therapy-eradicates-cancer-cells-without-targeting-healthy-ones-15045/ Led by Professor Cohen-Armon of Tel-Aviv University, the researchers found that potent phenanthridine derived polyADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors efficiently eradicate MCF-7 and MDA231 breast cancer cells without impairing normal proliferating cells, such as human epithelial cells (MCF-10A), nor normal non-proliferating cells, such as neurons and cardiomyocytes.
There has been much talk over the last few years about having countries and institutions boycott Israeli institutions including medical and scientific forums etc. My question is, if this drug turns out to be effective: 1 Must Israel share it with those that boycott Israeli instituions? 2 Should Israel turn over what is has to institions that may studiy this even if that instituion (a) won't let Israel participate and (b) will not advise Israel of its findings?
So how many people would rather die of a disease than be cured by Jews?? Ahmedinejad? Asaad? Hamas lovers? Nasty Euro Jew haters? Swedish Journalists? Heaven help me I love you Israel!!!!!
Please express your thoughts to a family memeber of yours or dear friend that has cancer.
Are you being sarcastic? Ironic? Is your comment designed to expose the absurdity and inherent racism of boycotting Israeli academics? I'd really like to believe that and not that you seriously suggest withholding life-saving medication because its discovery was made by Israeli researchers. But in this bizarre world, where terrorism is lauded and defense is defined as a war crime, where another name for peace is war, where language and concepts of good and evil have been completely turned on their heads - well, yes, I can believe that perhaps you were serious. We live in a world gone mad.
its on it's way, and the if the PALS don't want it they don't have to take it.
It would be nice if there were a few more accidents like
I am acncer patient, this is a major breakthrough for humanity and me personally. Can you let me know if and how I can get in touch with the researchers, get the medicine, maybe volunteer for experiments! Let me know, please. thank you
This is another proof that Israel is indeed a stunning country! Well done, Israel.
The stroke drug which is the drug being tested - do we know the name of it and is it available in the U.S. or Canada? Please follow-up Haaretz.