Axolotl eggs could provide

a potent weapon in fight against cancer

A common cause of cancer is when cells are altered or mutated and the body’s tumor suppressor genes are switched off. Scientists at the University of Nottingham have managed to bring cancer cells back under control by reactivating the cells’ cancer suppressor genes using an extract from axolotl oocytes. The scientists say the discovery could form a powerful new technology platform for the treatment of a variety of cancers.

The process of cell division is controlled by specific genes and these are turned “on” or “off” depending on their function. Among the most important of these genes are tumor suppressor genes. These genes repress the development of cancers and normally act as a control point in the cell division cycle. Therefore, the switching off of tumor suppressor genes is a common cause of cancers.

The on/off switch in genes is controlled by the modification of proteins that are bound to the DNA in a cell, which are known as epigenetic modifications. Tumour suppressor genes in many cancers are switched off by epigenetic marks, which is the underlying cause of tumors.

In an effort to reverse this process the researchers looked to the axolotl salamander – an animal well known for its ability to regenerate most of its body parts. The scientists found that humans evolved from animals that closely resemble axolotls and therefore, proteins in axolotls are very similar to those in humans. Axolotl oocytes – eggs prior to ovulation – are also packed with molecules that have very powerful epigenetic modifying activity and a powerful capacity to change epigenetic marks on the DNA of human cells.

By treating the cancerous cells with axolotl oocyte extract, the researchers were able to reactivate the tumor suppressor genes and stop the cancer from growing. After 60 days there was still no evidence of cancerous growth.

The researchers say the identification of the proteins in axolotl oocytes responsible for this tumor reversing activity is a major goal of future research, and could form a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer.

The University of Nottingham team’s research appears in the journal

Molecular Cancer.

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Little people secret

that might save

big problems of

diabetes, cancer

Nicky Phillips

February 18, 2011

Then and now … members of the group of 99 Ecuadorians with dwarfism who took part in a 22-year study, pictured at the start of the study in 1988, above, and in 2009.

A GROUP with dwarfism from a province in Ecuador could hold clues to preventing cancer.

Of the 99 individuals, who are in perfect proportion except for a genetic mutation that stunts their growth, only one developed cancer during a 22-year study.

Scientists researching the group believe this growth mutation is the key to their disease immunity, and suggest drugs could give a similar degree of protection to full-grown adults.

An Ecuadorian endocrinologist and co-author of the study, Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, said researchers first noticed the lack of chronic disease in the community while they were investigating their growth defect.

”[We] were more in search of problems than solutions,” he said.

After more than two decades of following those with Laron dwarfism, which is caused by a mutation in their growth hormone receptor gene, Dr Guevara-Aguirre and his American colleague Valter Longo found no cases of diabetes and only one non-lethal case of cancer.

When they looked at the group’s normal-sized relatives, who lived in the same town over the same period, around17 per cent had been diagnosed with cancer and 5 per cent had diabetes – the same rate found among other Ecuadorian adults.

The researchers concluded that growth hormone must have a downside in normal size adults. ”The growth hormone receptor-deficient people don’t get two of the major diseases of ageing,” said Associate Professor Longo, a biologist at the University of Southern California.

To understand how this mutation could protect against cancer and diabetes, the researchers studied the effects of compounds in the participants’ blood.

They found low levels of IGF-1 could reduce DNA damage and promote cell death when DNA damage did occur – two processes that decrease cancer-promoting behaviour in cells.

The Laron group also had lower blood insulin levels, which accounted for the absence of diabetes.

People with Loran dwarfism were instead more likely to die from accidents, cardiovascular disease or alcohol-related causes, the researchers found.

Drugs that reduce growth hormone are readily available and are used to treat people with gigantism. The risks and benefits of giving adults these or similar drugs to reduce growth hormones would need to be weighed up against the side-effects of drugs used to treat diabetes and cancer, said Professor Longo, whose findings are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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Acnistus arborescens. [Cancer plant]

Natives use for cancer treatments

Medium sized shrubby tree with soft cork-like bark. Small flowers are followed by little orange tomato-like fruits. Plant is used for its anti-cancer properties.

Description: Small or medium sized shrubby tree to 10-20ft. Small orange fruits are very popular with birds, but have little taste and may not be palatable for humans. Despite its name, it does not contain any nicotine compounds. The common name Wild Tobacco is a misnomer.

Hardiness: Subtropical, will survive brief frosts

Uses: Plant contains Withaferin A and Withacnistin, both having anti-tumor properties. Extracts from this plant have historically been used by natives as an herbal treatment for cancer. Can also be used as a diuretic.

Native Range: Native to Central and South America and the Caribbean.

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Patients who have money are cancer targets

Cancer doesn’t care how much money you have –

but cancer doctors sure as hell do.

Once they know you have some cash, they’ll run you through the wringer to squeeze out every last dollar from you, and a new study makes that point clear.

Western world researchers have found that people in the country’s wealthier areas are between 15 and 20 percent more likely to “get” breast, prostate and skin cancers than those who live in poorer areas.

The experts are already blabbing about longer life expectancies for wealthy people, but that’s a load of hooey. Age does play a role in these cancers, but the western worlds poor live nearly as long as the wealthy – within two or three years of each other, a little fact these “experts” didn’t bother to mention.

Good thing some of us keep ‘em honest!

So let’s blow this thing open right now and let them know the jig is up: The real reason – the only reason – for the difference in cancer rates is that wealthy people are more likely to get screened and treated.

They have the $$$ money and the insurance, so they have the cancer.

In reality, rich and poor alike suffer from these cancers – almost certainly at close-to-identical rates. You might even have one of these cancers inside you right now.

Scary, huh?

Don’t be afraid – you’d have to live to Methuselah’s age before most of these cancers would ever harm you.

Here’s my advice: Don’t waste your time with most cancer screenings (the one exception is the colonoscopy, and here’s why).

And if you ever are forced into one, be sure to show up in some ratty, worn-out clothes – and keep asking the doc if this is going to cost much. Better yet, mention that you’re on a fixed income. And definitely don’t tell him you’re insured.

Trust me, he won’t find anything. In fact, he probably won’t be able to show you the door fast enough.

Wealth doesn’t always mean health,

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Axolotl eggs could provide a potent

weapon in fight against cancer tumours

A common cause of cancer is when cells are altered or mutated and the body’s tumor suppressor genes are switched off. Scientists at the University of Nottingham have managed to bring cancer cells back under control by reactivating the cells’ cancer suppressor genes using an extract from axolotl oocytes. The scientists say the discovery could form a powerful new technology platform for the treatment of a variety of cancers.

The process of cell division is controlled by specific genes and these are turned “on” or “off” depending on their function. Among the most important of these genes are tumor suppressor genes. These genes repress the development of cancers and normally act as a control point in the cell division cycle. Therefore, the switching off of tumor suppressor genes is a common cause of cancers.

The on/off switch in genes is controlled by the modification of proteins that are bound to the DNA in a cell, which are known as epigenetic modifications. Tumour suppressor genes in many cancers are switched off by epigenetic marks, which is the underlying cause of tumors.

In an effort to reverse this process the researchers looked to the axolotl salamander – an animal well known for its ability to regenerate most of its body parts. The scientists found that humans evolved from animals that closely resemble axolotls and therefore, proteins in axolotls are very similar to those in humans. Axolotl oocytes – eggs prior to ovulation – are also packed with molecules that have very powerful epigenetic modifying activity and a powerful capacity to change epigenetic marks on the DNA of human cells.

By treating the cancerous cells with axolotl oocyte extract, the researchers were able to reactivate the tumor suppressor genes and stop the cancer from growing. After 60 days there was still no evidence of cancerous growth.

The researchers say the identification of the proteins in axolotl oocytes responsible for this tumor reversing activity is a major goal of future research, and could form a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer.

The University of Nottingham team’s research appears in the journal Molecular Cancer.

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Cure clues from cancer cell close-up

Dec 17 – Video of tumor growth in zebrafish is providing clues that could lead to new cancer treatments. Images from scientists in the UK and Italy show how new cancer cells co-opt the immune system into helping the disease spread. Rob Muir reports

View video here

Cure clues from cancer cell close-up

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MELBOURNE doctors have found a lung cancer treatment that could turn a common form of the highly lethal disease into a manageable condition.

In what is being labelled the biggest breakthrough in lung cancer to date, cancer experts at St Vincent’s Hospital yesterday said they had found a common gene in squamous cell lung cancers that makes the cells proliferate and spread through the body.

Furthermore, the researchers have identified two drugs that have been shown to target the gene (FGFR1) in mice, killing the cells in the process.

The team aim to start testing the drugs on Victorian patients with squamous cell lung tumours next year and hope other hospitals around the world will join them to accelerate the testing process. If the trials show the drugs are safe and effective, the treatment could be available to patients in three to five years.

Associate Professor Gavin Wright, director of surgical oncology at St Vincent’s, said an eight-year analysis of about 1000 tumours had revealed that roughly one-fifth of people with squamous cell lung cancer had the problematic FGFR1 gene.

He said laboratory models of the disease had shown that the drugs should destroy the tumours in about 80 per cent of these people.

”In many cases, the tumours should completely disappear,” he said. ”The drugs can also stop the tumours growing and make them smaller. That effect could last for many years.

”This is a significant advance … It could transform this often lethal form of lung cancer into a more manageable chronic disease like diabetes,” he said.

In more positive news, Professor Wright said he expected the drugs to come in the form of tablets with low-level side effects, such as a rash.

This would be better than other cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, he said, which often lead to problems including hair loss, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.

”That would mean a significant advance for both quality of life as well as length of life,” he said.

The work to identify the gene was done with the help of researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and money raised by Melbourne father Russell O’Toole, whose wife Sandy O’Toole died of lung cancer last year.

Chief executive of the Cancer Council Australia, Ian Olver, yesterday praised the finding, which was reported in Science Translational Medicine this week, saying treatments for lung cancer were desperately needed.

He said that if the drugs work as expected they could be likened to the value of the drug herceptin, which has provided an effective treatment for thousands of women with HER2-positive breast cancer. This aggressive form of breast cancer accounts for about one quarter of all breast cancers.

”This is a very significant breakthrough,” he said.

Squamous cell is the second most common type of lung cancer, after adenocarcinoma, and is usually associated with a history of smoking.

Each year, about 10,000 people in Australia are diagnosed with lung cancer. About 35 per cent of these people have squamous cell cancers. Only about 10 per cent of lung cancer patients survive the disease.

An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report published this week showed that while survival rates had improved for all cancers, the only exception was lung cancer in women, for which the death rate rose by 56 per cent from 1982 to 2007.

Dr Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat, a scientist based in the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research’s stem cell and cancer unit, said the finding could improve survival rates for thousands of people around the world.

”It’s very exciting work,” she said.

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Scientists excited about

‘key’ to solving cancer

Researchers are closing in on a cure for cancer.

Scientists leading the battle against cancer say they are on the verge of acquiring their most valuable weapon yet.

Leading international cancer researcher Michael Stratton said obtaining the genetic make-up of the disease, expected in the next five to seven years, would give scientists the key to unlocking the secrets of what causes it.

He said they may even be able to determine the influence of outside effects, such as the environment and occupational impacts, on the development of cancer.

Professor Stratton, who has made international headlines for his cancer discoveries, said such insights could help solve several mysterious cancer clusters in Queensland, including the 18 cases of breast cancer at the former ABC site in Toowong.

“The sequencing [will be] like a new microscope being applied to cancer,” he told brisbanetimes.com.au.

“With the much deeper understanding of the genes that are abnormal … and actual DNA abnormalities of these genes, we’re anticipating that over the next few years we will acquire a better understanding of what those outside factors might be that are implicated in causing individual clusters.”

Despite numerous environmental tests of the Toowong site, scientists have not been able to link anything between the high number of breast cancer cases there.

The ABC abandoned the site in 2006 and is struggling to sell the riverfront property.

Professor Stratton said there were unexplained cancer clusters all over the world, including on Long Island in New York.

He said while the disease was common and such clusters may be coincidence, it was possible there were hidden environmental factors – “something we don’t know about”.

Such cases could be re-examined following the expected breakthrough on cancer genomics, Professor Stratton said.

“When these clusters occur we have to document them carefully, we have to collect as much information about them as we can … and then keep these materials for later on when we have new ways of looking at these clusters,” he said.

Professor Stratton is in Queensland as part of an International Cancer Genome Consortium workshop and delivered a speech at the University of Queensland last night.

He leads a research team that recently developed a pill that rapidly shrinks skin cancer tumours – the first cancer drug to harness knowledge from the full decoding of human DNA.

Professor Stratton said cancer research had come a long way in the past century.

“Go back 100 years or more, before they applied a microscope to cancer, all they knew was cancer was lumps that appeared to spread [in the body],” he said.

“There’s plenty more to be done … but the fact that we have succeeded in part for those cancers [with a cure] … should give us hope that we’d be able to do more in the future.”

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