Breast milk is being used to fight cancer after scientists accidentally discovered it contains a substance that kills tumour cells.
Trials
in patients with bladder cancer have already yielded promising results
and researchers believe the compound breast milk contains – nicknamed
Hamlet – will also help tackle bowel cancer and cervical cancer.
They
also say it homes in on cancer cells while leaving healthy cells
unharmed – so it has none of the debilitating side effects of
chemotherapy.
Breast milk is being used to
fight cancer after scientists accidentally discovered it contains a
substance that kills tumour cells (file photo)
Professor
Catharina Svanborg, who made the initial discovery, said last night:
‘There’s something magical about Hamlet’s ability to target tumour cells
and kill them.’
She said human breast
milk contained a protein called alpha-lactalbumin, which is transformed
into a cancer-fighting agent when in the gut.
Prof
Svanborg, an immunologist at Lund University in Sweden, made the chance
discovery that the substance kills tumour cells when working on
antibiotics.
She said: ‘We were looking for novel
antimicrobial agents, and new breast milk is a very good source of
these. During one experiment we needed human cells and bacteria to be
present, and we chose human tumour cells for practical reasons.
‘To our amazement, when we added this compound of milk, the tumour cells died. It was a totally serendipitous discovery.’
It homes in on cancer cells
while leaving healthy cells unharmed – so it has none of the
debilitating side effects of chemotherapy (file photo)
The
substance attacks cancer cells in numerous ways – first evading the
cell’s outer defences, then targeting the ‘power station’ mitochondria
and the ‘instruction manual’ nucleus. These actions cut off the cell’s
energy source and ‘programme’ it to commit suicide, in a process called
apoptosis.
Early trials in patients
with bladder cancer show those injected with Hamlet start shedding dead
tumour cells in their urine within days.
A full-scale trial pitting Hamlet against a placebo ‘dummy drug’ is now planned.
Source Credit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4503772/Breast-milk-accidental-cure-cancer.html
No comments:
Post a Comment