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Search for news containing: Headlines Fri, 20 Apr - 8:11 a.m. Researchers discov
er new cancer therapy Cancer Agency State is currently the third leading cause o
f death worldwide. But a new hope emerges in combating the disease. Researchers
at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) have discovered this new method of
use for the substance known as perillyl alcohol (PA), a lipid that can be extrac
ted from essential oils of many plants as citrus fruits and vegetables.
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The work is being developed by the general coordinator of the project (Institute
of Biology), Thereza Quirico-Santos, by drug responsible for the applied part (
Faculty of Pharmacy and Huapi), Deborah Future, and the coordinator of the clini
cal part of patients and neurosurgeons ( Huapi), Clovis Orlando da Fonseca. In h
is dissertation, Fonseca shows the action in vitro of perillyl alcohol on tumor
cells in the brain. The AP inhibits at least half an hour the proliferation of t
hese cells by a process called apoptosis, type of cell death that does not cause
necrosis. It occurs by fragmentation of DNA and, thus, cancer cells lose their
ability to multiply. When cell death occurs by necrosis, there is the release of
free radicals that stimulate the growth of cancer cells. "The process of apopto
sis would be a clean kill the cell," explains Professor Theresa. In another stud
y, in vivo,
Tumor cells were treated with perillyl alcohol and placed in an egg with embryo.
Then they lost the ability to migrate. This was a test which showed that tumor
cells treated with perillyl alcohol lose the ability to form metastases because
they migrate (ie, not cancer creeps into other items). Conventional treatment of
patients with cancer involves surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, procedure
s that also affect healthy cells and cause various side effects. According to Pr
ofessor Fonseca, the new proposal's strategy is to act in tumor noninvasively, w
ithout affecting normal cells. So the researchers decided to adopt as the inhala
tion form of administration of perillyl alcohol. When inhaled, the AP acts direc
tly on the central nervous system and lung tissue. Professor Clovis Fonseca was
allowed to do this work through the use of AP in brain tumor patients 'relapsing
' (patients who have undergone all conventional treatments had been operated on
and returned to the illness). The work is being done in FFU with patients referr
ed to Huapi, which was created in 2005 an outpatient neurooncologia. The treatme
nt is completely free and all patients treated with perillyl alcohol, so far, sh
owed no undesirable side effect. Are being treated with AP four patients with br
ain tumor. One is NLS, which has glioblastoma multiforme, a type of tumor is ver
y aggressive in that survival is very small. The patient was treated on November
4, 2004, and according to the doctor, her condition was terminal. Patient had d
ifficulty breathing and swallowing and was paralyzed on the entire left side. It
also did not speak and was in a state of torpor. After the start of daily treat
ment with AP, the patient eats, talks and is awake, but is still paralyzed. The
other patients are being monitored and the tumor did not increase them. The pati
ent with breast cancer being treated with AP had multiple metastases at baseline
. She also makes use of the AP, but the disease is in complete remission for alm
ost two years. Even though preliminary, these results are considered promising b
y scientists.
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