*Article: Could vitamin A potentially prevent lung cancer?
- From: robbb <robbbDICE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2006 10:53:52 -0500
A group of U.S. scientists has discovered that a new type of vitamin A called bexarotene possesses a potent anti-cancer property against lung cancer, according to a study scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of Oncogene, an oncology journal.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. Md., and affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The research focused on treated mice that had been genetically altered and were susceptible to lung cancer. After they developed benign tumors, the mice were injected with bexarotene for 12 weeks.
The researchers found that bexarotene reduced the total tumor burden by 50 percent in the mice, and it lowered the risk of the benign tumors developing into malignant tumors by 50 percent. This is a staggering figure when taken into consideration for human therapies.
In previous studies, bexarotene showed some promise in extending survival in cancer patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer, and had a five-year survival rate of less than 5 percent when it was diagnosed at the advanced stage.
Researchers said the vitamin A analogs, called retinoids, have been studied for several years as potential chemotherapeutic agents because they help regulate cell division, growth, differentiation and proliferation. One of drawbacks, however, is that retinoids have side effects that prevent them from being widely used.
The bexarotene compound belongs to another class of vitamin A analogs known as rexinoids, which historically have much lower toxic levels than retinoids and cause far fewer adverse effects. One of those side-effects is the rise in serum lipid levels.
The ideal substance to prevent cancer would block tumor growth without causing unpleasant or dangerous side effects, and bexarotene needs to be used along with another drug that suppresses the rising of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, according to the researchers.
They plan to test the new compound, and say if it turns out to be effective, the compound will become a candidate for clinical trials in patients with precancerous nodules or bronchial dysplasia.
Prevention is considered vital to lowering the impact of lung cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta report that almost 200,000 Americans were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002, while 150,000 died.
The majority of lung cancer patients are not diagnosed until their cancer has reached an advanced stage, and current treatment regimens do not substantially improve the outcome for most of these patients.
Source: Revolution Health News
--
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