Fw: Rare Plant May Help Fight Breast Cancer

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Monday, February 07, 2005 9:46 AM

Rare Plant May Help Fight Breast Cancer

 

 

Rare Plant May Help Fight Breast Cancer

Compound Curbs Breast Cancer Cells Only,

Leaves Healthy Ones Alone

By Miranda Hitti

Medical News

Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

on Thursday, February 03, 2005

 

 

Feb. 3, 2005 -- South America's rain forest is home to a plant that could help

beat breast cancer.

 

A compound taken from a rare dogbane plant has shown promise in lab tests. It

might reveal new information about how breast cancer cells grow, and eventually

yield new treatments.

 

The chemical has been tested on human breast tissue samples, but not on people.

So far, University of Virginia researchers are encouraged by what they've seen.

Their findings appear in the Feb. 1 issue of Cancer Research.

 

The study was conducted by research assistant pathology professor Jeffrey Smith,

PhD, and colleagues. Like scientists worldwide, they're working hard to find new

breast cancer treatments.

 

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women; it is America's No. 2

leading cause of cancer deaths for women after lung cancer. More than 2 million

American women have been treated for breast cancer and about 211,000 will be

diagnosed this year, says the American Cancer Society.

 

Smith's team searched for new solutions from nature. They tapped a large library

of botanical extracts taken from rare plants.

 

The researchers wanted to find something to block a chemical called RSK, which

helps breast cancer cells grow. Their lab tests found too much RSK in about half

of the human breast cancer tissue samples they studied. Perhaps RSK nudges

breast cells toward cancer, say the researchers.

 

They screened the botanical extracts for an RSK inhibitor and found what they

were looking for in Forsteronia refracta. The plant is a member of the dogbane

family and grows in the Amazonian rain forest.

 

The plant's key ingredient is a compound called SL0101. The chemical stopped RSK

and prevented breast cancer cells from growing. But SL0101 didn't hurt healthy

breast cells, say the researchers.

 

The next step is to see if SL0101 will prevent tumor growth in mice. They'll

tinker with the structure of SL0101, if necessary, to make it suitable for

studies involving human, Smith says, in a news release.

 

It will probably be several years before those studies can start. But " finding

out that RSK is a good drug target for breast cancer is very exciting, " Smith

explains, in the news release.

 

 

--

 

SOURCES: Smith, J. Cancer Research, Feb. 1, 2005; vol 65. American Cancer

Society, " How Many Women Get Breast Cancer? " News release, University of

Virginia.