Gazette June 2005
May was National Arthritis Month. Almost a third of all Americans have this painful condition. It is usually referred to generally as arthritis but joint inflammation actually covers a wide range of problems. It is the leading cause of disability for those over 15 and affects, to one degree or another, over 66 million people nationwide.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of joint disease. It's often called wear-and-tear arthritis because it involves the wearing away of the cartilage that caps the bones in joints. Over time, if the cartilage wears down completely, shock absorption capabilities are reduced even to the point of bone rubbing on bone. This eventually damages the bones. Osteoarthritis can affect almost any joint in the body.
In rheumatoid arthritis, the synovial membrane that protects and lubricates joints becomes inflamed, causing pain and swelling. Rheumatoid arthritis can be more disabling than osteoarthritis, and it sometimes results in deformed joints. It can affect any joint, but wrists, knuckles and small joints of the feet are among the most common sites.
Recent advances in treating and preventing cancer add more weapons in seeking healthy longevity.
At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in May there was much discussion about a retrospective study of 40,000 woman veterans in the database of the Veterans Affairs medical system which found that women who take statins were only half as likely to develop breast cancer as those who did not take statins.
This isn't the first time this association has been noted. Prior population studies suggest that those who take statins are at lower risk of colon, prostate, and breast cancer. What is intriguing is that the statins appear to lower the risk of advanced prostate cancer by 54%, metastatic stage by 34% but not at all for cancer still localised in the prostate. Read more here.
The effects of the statins seem to be to inhibit prostate cancer cells from becoming metastatic.
It's far too early to recommend statin use for cancer prevention but clinical trials to rigorously test these observations are being set up. In the meantime those who take statins to lower cholesterol can be comforted that there is this additional benefit. Read more here.
Another early announcement from Vertex Pharmaceutical is that they have an experimental medication, code-named VX-950, that can lower levels of circulating hepatitis c to virtually undetectable levels. Their molecule is a protease inhibitor. There are probably seven or eight pharmaceutical companies currently racing to set up clinical trials with their own candidate protease inhibitor molecule against hepatitis c. Curing or severely inhibiting the hepatitis c virus is effectively a means of preventing liver cancer. Read more here.
Spread the news that early stage HER2-positive breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form with a poor prognosis afflicting about 20-30% of women, have a new weapon with herceptin - which significantly increases disease-free survival. Read more here.
The Lancet published a remarkable research paper in the June 18th issue titled 'Blood vessels engineered from human cells'. It was followed by numerous newspaper reports that new blood vessels had been grown from older cells. While the news reports were written well, I don't feel sufficient notice was given to the telomerase technology used to reverse ageing in the older cells. The accomplishments of these scientists have far ranging implications. It will lead to younger healthy replacement arteries that are derived from the patient's own cells.
To create the arteries the researchers started with a tube of structural material that would later dissolve, then seeded the inner wall with the patient's vascular cells that had been reversed in ageing with Geron's telomerase technology, while pulsing a vitamin and nutrient solution through the tube as the cells multiplied and filled the dissolving scaffold. Other cells were added to line the interior of the tube to complete the artery.
These proto-arteries are not yet fully functional since collagen and elastin at least will have to be woven into the arterial matrix so there's a lot more research to be done. Encourage the young to migrate to science. See the wonder. EdRef College Search Directory.
To add to these remarkable studies is attention to the fruit known as a pomegranate. I'm thankful to Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld (Fox News, Sunday mornings, 10:30 am) who pointed out June 19th that pomegranate juice in sufficient quantity is so packed with polyphenol antioxidants that reversal of coronary and carotid artery plaque has been observed. Read this
Apart from the futher research needed in growing new blood vessels, there are many other projects to investigate in the growing Commercial Biotechnology industry.
The growth of knowledge gained in recent years is a deeper understanding of Angiogenesis.
The National Institutes of Health has already reported and is continuing research in growing new blood vessels in patients by inserting time-release capsules of basic fibroblast growth factor into the heart muscle of patients scheduled for bypass surgery.
Clinical studies have proved that injecting the patient's own bone marrow cells into the calf muscle results in newly formed blood vessels for a person with peripheral artery disease, resulting in reversal of claudication in even the most severe cases.
Angiogenesis growth factor induced generation of new blood vessels for patients with coronary artery disease are showing promising results, News-medical.net is explaining about planned clinical studies, while other researchers are exploring various options for generating new arteries.
LEF sells the best quality vitamins and supplements.
Sufficient blood levels of vitamin D3 (ergocalciferol) have been shown to be essential in surviving lung cancer surgery. Read more here.
This web page is one of a number of ErinPharm web pages designed by me as a synopsis of topics that interest me as well as being a quick reference page for my newsletter subscribers and myself. I have no affiliation of any kind to any pharmaceutical company or medical group. The opinions expressed are my own. I welcome communication and debate. I am an optimist. I look forward to the future with wonder.
John L. Fahey johnfahey@tds.net
