Vitamin A produces astonishing leukemia cure rate, without chemotherapy

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Croft WoodruffVitamin A produces astonishing leukemia cure rate, even withoutchemotherapyNew research conducted at the University of Texas M. D. AndersonCancer Center shows that vitamin A cures as many as 33% of patientswith a rare form of leukemia -- without using chemotherapy. In thestudy, the vitamin A was being delivered inside "bubbles of fat" toenhance bioavailability. Out of 34 patients participating in thetrial, an astonishing 10 remained cancer-free after five years,despite receiving no chemotherapy.So what's the real story here? Researchers are calling this form ofvitamin A a "drug," which seems odd, since it's just vitamin A.Perhaps they don't want to admit that a vitamin is better thanchemotherapy for curing cancer. And this is definitely a cure -- thatterm is even being used by the researchers here. To take a group ofcancer patients and watch them remain cancer-free for five years isnothing short of astonishing, especially since they were only takingone vitamin. Imagine how well they'd do if they also consumedchlorella (a strong anti-cancer superfood), spirulina (anothersuperfood containing phytochemicals known to destroy breast cancertumors), graviola (an Amazonian herb known for its powerful ability todestroy cancer cells), licorice root (a more popular anti-cancer herb)and other health-promoting foods and supplements. With the help ofthis collection of health-promoting substances, the cure rate couldhave easily risen to 75% or more.Still, that's just a guess. Organized medicine isn't really interestedin studying things that don't generate profits, and herbs andsuperfoods certainly fall into that category. But it is exciting tosee vitamin A having such a dramatic, positive impact on patients withleukemia who might otherwise be subjected to chemotherapy. And perhapssomeday these researchers will have the courage to admit that it's avitamin, not a drug, that's working the healing magic here.Overview: * A biological agent --- a drug that wraps vitamin A insidebubbles of fat --- used without chemotherapy appears to offer as manyas one-third of patients with a rare form of leukemia an opportunityfor a long-term, disease-free future, say researchers at TheUniversity of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. * Researchers say the findings, presented at the annual meeting ofthe American Society of Clinical Oncology, provide the proof thatbiologic drugs can work in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia(APL), and opens the door to development of such agents for morecommon forms of leukemia. * "This is the first time we have seen patients with an acuteleukemia potentially cured without use of chemotherapy," says thestudy principal investigator, Elihu Estey, M.D., a professor in theDepartment of Leukemia. Source: http://www.news-medical.net/view_article.asp?id=2248• Home PageA biological agent used without chemotherapy appears to offer adisease-free future to patients with rare leukemiaPosted By: News-Medical in Pharmaceutical NewsPublished: Monday, 7-Jun-2004Print - A biological agent used without chemotherapy appears to Printer Friendly Email - A biological agent used withoutchemotherapy appears toEmail to a FriendA biological agent ­ a drug that wraps vitamin A inside bubbles of fat­ used without chemotherapy appears to offer as many as one-third ofpatients with a rare form of leukemia an opportunity for a long-term,disease-free future, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D.Anderson Cancer Center.Researchers say the findings, presented at the annual meeting of theAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology, provide the proof that biologicdrugs can work in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL),and opens the door to development of such agents for more common formsof leukemia."This is the first time we have seen patients with an acute leukemiapotentially cured without use of chemotherapy," says the studyprincipal investigator, Elihu Estey, M.D., a professor in theDepartment of Leukemia. "That's an important development in the fieldof leukemia, because traditional treatment with chemotherapy oftenproduces side effects, even death, in patients with different kinds ofleukemia than the one studied here."The researcher presenting the results at ASCO is Apostolia MariaTsimberidou, M.D., Ph.D., an instructor in the Department of Leukemia.In the small trial, approximately one-third of patients were found tobe disease free for more than five years using the drug, Lipo-ATRA.Lipo-ATRA is a lipidized form of the drug ATRA (all-trans retinoicacid), which was originally studied in China in patients with APL.ATRA is a form of vitamin A that was found to help patients diagnosedwith APL, a malignancy of the bone marrow in which a genetictranslocation leads to production of an excess of immature cells. Thevitamin A derivative helps push the cells to mature.Traditional treatment of APL combines ATRA, taken by mouth, with thechemotherapy drug, idarubicin. But realizing that little of thevitamin A is absorbed when swallowed, M. D. Anderson researchersworked to encase ATRA inside bubbles of fat."When you put ATRA in a lipid carrier and inject it, it is notmetabolized and stays longer in tissues," says a researcher who helpeddevelop the treatment, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein, M.D., a professor inthe Department of Experimental Therapeutics.In the Phase II clinical trial being reported, patients receivedLipo-ATRA for three months and then continued to receive the drugwithout chemotherapy as long as their bone marrow showed no evidenceof the characteristic molecular signature of APL. If this marker wasfound, chemotherapy was added.Of the 34 patients who received Lipo-ATRA, ten remain in remission foran average of five years, despite never receiving chemotherapy. Manyof the patients who needed to receive chemotherapy also remain inremission "such that the overall proportion of patients curedapproximates that seen with oral ATRA plus chemotherapy, with,however, fewer patients receiving chemotherapy," says Estey.http://www.mdanderson.org