Alpha-TOS, een soort vitamine E, heeft in experimenten met muizen mesothelioomkankercellen gedood en de groei van tumoren tegengehouden, zegt de Australische celbioloog Dr. Neuzil. Hij hoopt dat het middel over ongeveer 2 jaar bij mensen kan worden getest.
Bron: The Courier Mail, Daily Telegraph, 23 mei 2005.
The Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia)
May 23, 2005 Monday
HEADLINE: Vitamin cancer treatment hope
BODY:
A VITAMIN E-related compound may kill deadly cancer cells caused by asbestos exposure, says an Australian cell biologist who has already established its success in trials using mice.
Gold Coast-based Griffith University researcher Jiri Neuzil said alpha-TOS, which is closely related to vitamin E, killed mesothelioma cancer cells in experiments with mice.
Most victims of mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that destroys a protective membrane covering internal organs including the lungs, have inhaled asbestos particles.
Dr Neuzil said alpha-TOS also halted growth of mesothelioma tumours, for which there is currently no cure, under a five-year study involving researchers from Australia, Italy and the Czech Republic.
He said the compound had also showed hints of suppressing breast cancer, melanoma, lung cancer and colon cancer tumours in animal experiments. Dr Neuzil said alpha-TOS would ultimately be put to the test in human trials, which he hoped to begin within two years.
Alpha-TOS was selective because it pursued mesothelioma cancer cells but caused only minor damage, if any, to normal cells in mice, he said.
Dr Neuzil said he stumbled on the compound’s promising qualities “by mistake five years ago.