[img_assist|nid=115|title=Breast Cancer cell|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=100|height=96]
A group of researchers claim that they are patenting a possible cure for cancer involving nothing more than sugar and short-chain fatty acid combination. [ Chemistry & Biology]
The Johns Hopkins researchers cautioned that their double-punch molecule, described in the December issue of the journal Chemistry & Biology, has not yet been tested on animals or humans.
Nevertheless, they believe it represents a promising new strategy for fighting the deadly disease, and have already filed an application for a U.S. patent covering this class of compounds.
"For a long time, cancer researchers did not pay much attention to the use of sugars in fighting cancer," Department of Biomedical Engineering postdoctoral fellow said. "But we found that when the right sugar is matched with the right chemical partner, it can deliver a powerful double-whammy against cancer cells."
Sampathkumar and his colleagues built upon 20-year-old findings that a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate can slow the spread of cancer cells. In the 1980s, researchers discovered that butyrate, which is formed naturally at high levels in the digestive system by symbiotic bacteria that feed on fibre, can restore healthy cell functioning.
Efforts to use butyrate as a general drug for tumours elsewhere in the body have been hindered by the high doses of the compound needed to effectively eradicate cancer leading scientists to try and make butyrate more potent by modifying it or joining it to other compounds.
The results have been disappointing because the molecular partner added to butyrate to improve delivery to the cancer cells often produced unsafe side effects.
In some of the less successful experiments, designed to avoid toxic side effects, researchers used innocuous sugar molecules such as glucose to carry butyrate into the cells.
"We didn't think they chose the right partner molecule," said Kevin J. Yarema, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering who supervised the project. "Our insight was to select the sugar partner to serve not just as a passive carrier but as additional ammunition in the fight against cancer."
The researchers focused on a sugar called N-acetyl-D-mannosamine, or ManNAc, for short, and created a hybrid molecule by linking ManNAc with butyrate.
The hybrid easily penetrates a cell's surface, then is split apart by enzymes inside the cell.
Once inside the cell, ManNAc is processed into another sugar known as sialic acid that plays key roles in cancer biology, while butyrate orchestrates the expression of genes responsible for halting the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells.
Although the study of the exact molecular mechanism is in its early stages, the researchers believe the separate chemical components work together to bolster the cancer-fighting power of butyrate.
The double attack triggers cellular suicide, also called apoptosis, in the cancer cells.
To find out whether this butyrate-ManNAc hybrid alone would produce the positive results, the researchers tested three other sugar-butyrate combinations and a butyrate salt compound with no sugar attached.
The four other formulas and the butyrate-ManNAc hybrid were each added to lab dishes containing cancer cells.
After three to five days, cancer growth had slowed in all of the dishes.
After 15 days, cancer growth had resumed in dishes treated with four of the compounds, but in samples treated with the butyrate-ManNAc hybrid, all of the cancer cells had died.
The researchers also wanted to find out whether administering the two parts of the hybrid independently would achieve the same result, but in these experiments, the cancer cells did not self-destruct.
The researchers suspect this is because the hybrid molecules more easily penetrate the surface of the cell than the individual chemicals.
Once the components are inside, the researchers believe the partners help enzymes to resume the normal assembly of sugar molecules and correct aberrant gene expression patterns, two processes that go awry when cancer occurs.
My Dad Has Cancer, HURRY!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, HURRY. My family desperately wants to to try anything to save my father from cancer! PLEASE. HURRY. Thank you John-Hopkins University and Sampathkumar and your colleagues!
Your dad has cancer, stop!
Your dad has cancer because he is a homosexual. He is going to die and burn in hell, i am sorry, but it is true.
People are stupid
your a fuck!ng idiot, and your the one who will die and burn in hell. I'm sorry but it's the truth.
our magic works
"I'm sorry but it's the truth." You're not sorry and it's a big fat lie. And the joke is on you -- when you die, the light goes out and that's it.
Science works; magic does not. You should be praying to your non-existent God that these guys get the cure to work, because science is the only chance you're going to get to live forever.
Idiot.
There is an IQ test. It asks
There is an IQ test. It asks me to add up two numbers.
Rule #1: The best way to kill a troll is to not feed it.
sick
Why would you say something like that? You sick fucking bastard.
@The "Truth"
I see the Westboro Baptist Church is invading the internet with it's wonderful message of love and peace... Oh wait!
Sometimes I wish there was an IQ test and compassion test administered before people were allowed on the internet.
Lol whatever. I really
Lol whatever. I really don't care.
I see another 13 year-old
I see another 13 year-old boy has found the internet. ( My apologies to any 13 year-old out there that have already learned to think before they (mis)type )
Ignorance is bliss
So what you're saying is that anyone who has cancer got it because they are homosexual... hmmm. Wow. You are definitely the dumbest person on the face of this planet. I think maybe you should read up on how cancer forms you fucktard. ANYONE can get cancer. It doesn't matter how healthy you live your life. It definitely doesn't matter if you follow a religion. If one cell in your body, just ONE CELL becomes defective by no longer having the cell death switching portion of DNA, and it reproduces itself. You have cancer. It has nothing to do with sexuality you small minded, ignorant, trailer park living, asshat! Go crawl the fuck back under your rock.
This is GREAT
I so hope this works!
More Info
Hey,
Thanks for the time of writing this article, I'm sure it will be very helpful for a lot of people around the globe.
I would like to know more about this ... if I get more info I'll post it her again.
Hope Springs Eternal!
I hope this might prove as effective as preliminary studies have hinted, yet, over the decades, many "cures" have been found, and then found lacking....
Still, the real cure may be on the threshold. Unfortunately, only time will tell, and so many don't have the time to wait.
more truth is a sodomite
you are a major sick fuck.
wow, that was really
wow, that was really uncalled for
Sorry you feel that way
That is a terrible thing to say. When they find a cure, I hope everyone gets one but you and your in-bred family.
Step out of your basement and come join the rest of us in the 'real world' you pasty-white bigot.
Please ignore that spammer Morris
and wishing your family and your father good luck in the future.
I lost my father 3 years ago to cancer, maybe new improvements and breakthroughs will mean people will not have to suffer like my father did and I hope they arrive soon because there is too much suffering in this world.
Don't feed the trolls
It's hard sometimes, but if you ignore them they have no reason to play on these forums
WOW! how can u say something
WOW! how can u say something like that, u are horrible and dispicable. you obviously havnt lost anyone or known anyone that has had cancer... u fucking asshole
Cancer Cure.. how can you say that..
I would not take offense by the comments above, as they are probably true. The patent situation and the fact that big money is involved in these things need to be considered as complete distinct considerations. Finding a cure is certainly of highest priority though and anybody who indeed discovers this deserves credit. Greed is just as much a human characteristic as compassion, if the wheel or fire could be patented to make a buck or two it would be done! I think it is important to praise compassion and frown upon excessive greed. But perhaps its best to leave these discussions aside and focusing on finding a cure for cancer first!
Old Ayurvedic Remedy
It is amazing how these greedy scientists take what is sort of a well known(but slow) approach for tumor removal in old Indian medicinal system( rasayana) using, create the lab made chemical equivalents, and then claim it is as discovery, patent it, and make billions.
But given we have allowed patents on Neem, and Basmati rice this is hardly surprising.
i wouldn't say the
i wouldn't say the scientists were greedy... just their parent corporations. it's all about the cash to them. i know someone who developed a product to help wounds heal by patenting the process for packaging salt water. amazing that the patent office let that go through. now that company sues anyone who comes up with anything that contains salt water that is used to heal wounds. beautiful world we live in.
this is getting
this is getting ridiculous....anyone with cancer or has had their life radically altered from cancer should be insulted by these ignorant remarks, i am one of them. thank god that they are making progress with cancer research. i know that if it was you or your loved one that was suffering, you would think twice before speaking that way...
--23 year old 2 time cancer & stem cell transplant survivor
Amazing
I am excited about this article- about what it proposes. This is just awesome! Ethical issues? its sugar and a body-created chemical- and lets not try to shoot this research down before it has a chance- it might lead to progress in other medical/disease treatments. I agree with the 23 year old survivor: If you have EVER known anybody even waiting for a diagnosis that MIGHT be cancer- you know the helplessness and pain that this treatment could possibly help to alleviate. Any step to broaden the available treatments for any type of cancer is a step that I will support. Although many people think that these scientists and corporations are just out for a buck, please remember they all started with the basis of helping people. Thank you Manjela for trying to give people a reality check on their comments- and I am very happy for your cancer regression- I pray that you stay healthy and cancer free.
Ethical Issues
Any ideas what ethical issues patenting a treatment such as this would raise? I would imagine that such procedure will not be a readily available product that would appeal to the lower-income patients. Sure patenting it wouldn't help either.
Wow.
Ok, these post went a little off topic, but do they know when they are going to start testing, by any chance?
I hope they find a cure for Alcoholism.
Can nothing stop this spread of Alcoholism?
Oh, the humanity.
Highly simplistic view
Both this article and the review are overly simplistic.
It would be nice to "have a cure for cancer".
However "Cancer" is not one disease or one specific disease but a myriad of diffirent though similar pathologically diseases.
Each cancer disease responds to diffirent agaents and in diffirent ways.
What will "cure" or put into remission one brand of cancer - say breast cancer will do little or nothing for colon cancer.
Unforunately there will not be a single cure for cancers but help for each type of cancer one at a time.
What you say, about each
What you say, about each cancer being different is quite true. The photo on this story is of a breast cancer cell...I wonder if this is the type of cancer they were referring to? I think the article would have been better had the author specified which type of cancer they were working with. Oh well.
I totally Agree
Having been a two time Leukemia patient and having ben in "permanent remission" as the doctors call it for 19 years since my relapse in 1987, I completely agree with you.
As you said, every cancer has a different cycle of chemicals that it responds to and
what is going to maybe one day "cure" tumorous cancers won't have any effect at all on cancers of the blood.
Remission is not a "cure" I was one of the lucky ones, but I am not cured, and even after 19 years of being in remission, I still can't donate my blood because as I was informed by the Red Cross, I still might have cancer cells floating around in my blood.
When might these scientists going to find a "cure" for the non-tumorous cancers???
Calm down...
LOL...Hasn't anybody here heard of a 'Troll'??
...sometimes the reactions to trolls are even more stupid than the original comment. He/She is only trying to get a reaction, trying to get people talking about the comment, thus getting attention and their 15 seconds of 'fame'. They are very easy to spot, by virtue of the pure ignorance they display. An example:
"Cancer only happens to people that deserve it!!! LOLzzz!!zzOMG".
This is neither true, funny, or my real opinion, but is very simple to write. Had I written it, people would have gotten very upset but you must take everything you read on the web with a healthy pinch of salt.
The moral of the story: Don't even give people like this the satisfaction of a reply. If people just carried on with their normal commenting above and below trolls like this, trolls will stand out for reasons other than they originally planned and will just look stupid.
when have we ever found a
when have we ever found a cure for any thing the government hasent found inafective.Or chaneged the results to afectively make it look bogus.
There has and always been not only a cure for not only cancer but many other diseases,for which if it wasen't iterfeared with by all the berocricy,please forgive my spelling ,i am not a scollar like you.continued,we all would be disease free. have you ever heard of a cancer clinic in tiawana mexico,that was chased out of the usa.Whell you shoud investigate,they have a perfect cancer cure record for the past one hundred and fifty years ....if they dont censor this response,the gov.controls are slipping .I dont expect this to get past them.Whithout GD's help..AMEN.
Get your head examined.
Seriously, get help. It might be a brain tumor.
The article was definetly
The article was definetly worth reading, some interesting points. I'm sure it brings hope to desparte families facing these issues. However the comments were very upsetting.
idiots.
You idiots, the guy wasn't serious, he's a troll. I like the racist guy talking about 'pasty white' people though. There is a special place in hell for you.
http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/
http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home07/jan07/hybrid.html
Cures
Asside from all the slamming inside of this comment column, there has been documented cases of Vitamin C helping in cancer treatments. Nature will give us a way to fix what we, humans, have mis-engineered. Here we have sugar helping on this cancer. Vitmain thearpy on another. Nature is showing us how. WE need to be smart enough to find the cures nature provides us. Keep the experiments going. I want to run Cancer Clinics out of business! Have a great day.
I don't want to crush your
I don't want to crush your dream...but cancer clinics will be around for quite some time. Just as IBM sold typewriters to businesses when it was current and now sell the most high tech solution possible as the market changed, Cancer Clinics will provide the most up to date and state of the art solutions to their problems that they can. This is not a cure but rather a better treatment and I wish them the best of luck in developing it. Though it will not be in my lifetime that Cancer is not treated with all techniques possible. More than likely a cancer diagnosis will end up being treated with this sugar treatment ...a scheduled ration of radiation and if sever enough they will toss in a bit of chemo to take care of things. But hey 2 is better than and 3 is better than 2 so I say keep the techniques coming.
Immature Comments
Should stop, and I believe that if you want to criticize someone else's day or work, please do it on one that doesn't matter, like games and movies. Please do not spam on medical advancements and breakthroughs just because you think it is fun. If this solution works on ANY cancer, that can make all the difference in the world. If this works for one and only one cancer, then it could contain vital information to figure out other formulas and concoctions to cure other cancers.
Respect cancer cures,
they could save your life
Good Job
Please keep it up researchers. Try to get funding from a venture company and start your own $$$$ to speed up the animal studies. Great finding and great job!!
Patents, why worry?
I'm sure Steve at Grouppe Kurosawa
will figure out how we can make the
compound in our own kitchen....
RE: Glyconutrients
I am not surprised that glyconutrients are working as a anticancer therapy. I checked already on Medline.Everething is on Medline !
Mannose receptors are inside the cells and Sialic acid is part of tyrosinase.
But if you are scientist you have to know what does it mean ?
There is so many experiemts done, but somebody has to set the puzzles.The rest is only politics!
Scientist,Oncology
My boyfriend had cancer,
My boyfriend had cancer, Non-Hodkins Disease. He has been in remission for 3 almost 4 years now, but the treatments he went through was horrible, nasty and not something I would want anyone else to have to go through. It was worse when he had to have high dosage chemo for his bone marrow transplant. If they can find a more painless way to cure cancer that would be wonderful! I did a bike ride in honor of those who have/had leukiemia (sorry if I spell it wrong) and Lymphoma. Its tough battle, and its so terribly sad to hear about anyone who doesnt win their fight. Thank you research for trying to find a more painless way to help people through this!
Anti-Cancer Powers in Breast Milk
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061209/bob8.asp
I am a hodgkins survivor
I am a hodgkins survivor myself! I was diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma stage 2B at 21 years old. Chemotherapy and everything else related to cancer treatment is really the worst thing ever! Chemo messes with your mind and body and you can't do anything about it!! I do not wish this to anyone. If they can find a cure that would work more effectively while being less invasive that would be great!!!
Keep up the good work
Article WITHOUT references
I find 10 articles a day like this, referring to patents and researchers, etc.
From 50% of the article writers never can tell you where the news comes from, 30% of the patents are part of a 'funders rip-off', and 20% are real, existing and can be traced. Few make a related product that makes FDA approval.
So if the above was published in Chemistry & Biology by the Johns Hopkins researchers then their patent will be denied. One of the 3 basic conditions for a patent is that it may not be disclosed to others then the inventor(s) at the moment of application (or first on territory date if they are not in the US).
So if there is a patent, then there is a patent application number, and then, protected by the convention of Paris (the US is a signing member) it can be published.
Is there a patent number available ?
New cancer website
There is a new spanish cancer website looking for contributors at Ayuda Cancer
Regards
I saw that you have a page
I saw that you have a page that discusses patent-related resources at http://pressesc.com/comment/reply/110. I wanted to suggest adding www.freepatentsonline.com to the page. This web site has free PDF downloading (instead of having to page through TIFFs like at the US PTO). It is by far the best free patent searching site.
Buy Valtrex
Buy Valtrex http://valtrex.blogcu.com/ zmsi.cn zhuzhao.com I am Sergey Brin from google.com
free file
skorospam3 free file hosting http://www.keepmyfile.com I am Sergey Brin from google.com