Grapefruit Given Good Grades

On May 11, 3:27 pm, Rusty the Retard <flakey...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
snip<<
Hey shteater ..


Shteaters were ALL told to stay off my threads ..


That does mean YOU .. shteater ..


Shteaters don't do like their told .. do ya .. shteater ..
shteater ..


DOOOOO .. it .. shteater ..


I told you not to cut these posts ..


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Grapefruit Juice Boosts Drug's Anti- Cancer Effects


Source: University of Chicago Medical Center
Description


Results from a small, early clinical trial show that combining
grapefruit juice with the drug rapamycin can be effective in treating
various types of cancer. The grapefruit juice increases drug levels,
allowing lower doses of the drug to be given.


Newswise — In a small, early clinical trial, researchers at the
University of Chicago Medical Center have found that combining eight
ounces of grapefruit juice with the drug rapamycin can increase drug
levels, allowing lower doses of the drug to be given. They also
showed
that the combination can be effective in treating various types of
cancer.


For two decades, pharmacists have pasted DO-NOT-TAKE-WITH-GRAPEFRUIT-
JUICE stickers on various pill bottles because it can interfere with
the enzymes that break down and eliminate certain drugs. This
interference makes the drugs more potent. In data presented at the
AACR 100th Annual Meeting 2009, the Chicago researchers examine ways
to exploit this fruit's medication-altering properties.


"Grapefruit juice can increase blood levels of certain drugs three to
five times," said study director Ezra Cohen, MD, a cancer specialist
at the University of Chicago Medical Center. "This has always been
considered a hazard. We wanted to see if, and how much, it could
amplify the availability, and perhaps the efficacy of rapamycin, a
drug with promise for cancer treatment."


This trial was designed to test "whether we could use this to boost
rapamycin's bioavailability to the patient's advantage, to determine
how much the juice altered drug levels, and to assess its impact on
anti-cancer activity and side effects," he said.


The study followed 28 patients with advanced solid tumors, for which
there is no effective treatment. The dose of the drug increased with
each group of five patients, from 15 milligrams up to 35. Patients
took the drug by mouth, as a liquid, once a week.


Beginning in week two, they washed it down with a glass of grapefruit
juice (Citius paradisi), taken immediately after the rapamycin and
then once a day for the rest of the week.


Twenty-five participants remained in the study long enough to be
evaluated. Seven of those 25 (28%) had stable disease, with little or
no tumor growth. One patient (4%) had a partial response, with the
tumor shrinking by about 30 percent. That patient is still doing well
more than a year after beginning the trial.


"My first cancer doctor gave me five years to live," said that
patient, Albina Duggan of Bourbonnais, IL. "That time runs out next
July."


Duggan, mother of four, has a rare cancer, an epitheliod
hemangioendothelioma that originated in the liver and subsequently
spread to two vertebrae in the neck and to the lymph nodes. She had
surgery and radiation therapy and was evaluated for a liver
transplant, but evidence of cancer beyond the liver made her
ineligible for a transplant. She "shopped around" for other therapies
and was able to keep the disease in check for a year with sorafenib,
a
drug approved for kidney and liver cancers.


After a year of stable disease, however, her tumor began growing
again
and she had to look for an alternative therapy. Her doctors at the
University of Chicago offered three clinical trials. The most
appealing to her was the rapamycin plus grapefruit juice study. She
took her first dose March 11, 2008, and is still on the drug-juice
combination.


"My tumor is smaller and it's no longer growing. I feel fine. I can
do
whatever I like and I have no real side effects," she said. "What's
not to like?"


Trial subjects do not like the taste of rapamycin. "It's not
pleasant," Duggan admitted. She has also tired of grapefruit juice.


Many patients in the study did report side effects. More than half
experienced elevated blood sugar levels, diarrhea, low white blood
cell counts or fatigue.


Duggan, more fortunate than most, has had milder side effects,
including fragile toe and finger nails and curly hair. "I now have
very curly hair," she said, "seriously curly. I have to adjust to
it."


Rapamycin, also known as sirolimus, was originally developed to
suppress the immune system, preventing rejection in patients
receiving
a transplanted kidney. Cancer specialists became interested in the
drug when they learned that it disrupted a biochemical pathway
involved in the development of the new blood vessels that tumors need
to grow. But the drug is expensive and poorly absorbed. Less than 15
percent of rapamycin is absorbed when taken by mouth.


This study showed that substances known a furanocoumarins, plentiful
in some forms of grapefruit juice, can decrease the breakdown of
rapamycin. This makes the drug reach higher levels in the
bloodstream,
two to four times the levels seen without a juice boost, and thus
increases the amount of the drug that reaches its targets.


"That means more of the drug hits the target, so we need less of the
drug," said Cohen.


Many of the newer cancer medications, precisely focused on specific
targets, are now taken as pills rather than intravenously. Some of
these drugs, including rapamycin, can cost thousands of dollars a
month. Hence, "this is an opportunity for real savings," Cohen said.
"A daily glass of juice could lower the cost by 50 percent."


The study will be presented at the AACR’s 100th Annual Meeting in
Denver in a session on "Late-Breaking Research: Clinical Research 1:
Phase I-III Clinical Trials," Poster Section 27, from 1 to 5 p.m. on
Monday, April 20, 2009.


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© 2009 Newswise. All Rights Reserved.


Who loves ya.
Tom


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.

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