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Forgotten Ulcer Drug Energizes Stem Cells
Soychemist writes "When cancer patients get a heavy dose of chemotherapy and radiation, it can destroy their bone marrow. Umbilical cords contain stem cells that can regenerate the immune systems of young patients, but usually there are not enough of them to heal an adult. Len Zon, a doctor at Children's Hospital in Boston surmised that there must be a chemical that can make the cord blood stem cells divide, so that there will be enough of them to treat adult patients. He tested 2,500 chemicals on zebrafish embryos, and found one that does the trick. It was once on its way to becoming an ulcer medication, and now doctors are testing it on cord blood units that will be given to leukemia patients."
You know, I read so many stories recently that just make me do a double take and question if it's a hoax/prank or what. Case in point, just today I noticed that a Nigerian professor at Jackson State University in Mississippi has been granted not a few patents for a bitter leaf-based anti-diabetic and cancer medication which may also benefit HIV/AIDS patients!
... it also wouldn't make sense for him to create his own company and hold the patents with the intent of doing something if it is a scam.
I don't know how this works! I mean, I know patents get handed out for most anything but is this guy patenting something that's well known in Nigeria (I heard a lot of Indian medicinal researchers are busting their asses to publish a herbal book so that this doesn't happen--prior art and all)? If he's the professor of Biology at an American university I certainly hope this isn't a scam
A confusingly exciting time in medicine. Too bad big pharma is pure evil.
My work here is dung.
The clinical trial page linked off the main page of the submission has a list: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00890500
Right now I guess they do not know which one helped, just that it was one of them did.
"Maybe this world is another planet's hell"
Aldous Huxley
Aspartame was originally an ulcer drug.
The "drug" is prostaglandin e2 (PGE2), and the link for the clinical trial (from TFA) is here. This is a Phase I clinical trial, which means it's all about safety. (There are secondary endpoints that are related to efficacy.)
I said "drug" because PGE2 is a fatty acid derivative that naturally occurs in the body. The patient won't be exposed to a meaningful amount of PGE2, as it is used to make the cord blood stem cells divide.
What's interesting and exciting is that while it's not that different from current treatments, it will require fewer source cells per patient allowing for more people to be treated. Furthermore, the stem cells implanted into the patient will not be genetically modified, unlike a lot of the stem cells currently derived from adult tissues. So the patient has no drug exposure and no modified cells. If it works, it'll be pretty cool.
The drug is prostaglandin e2 (PGE2). The list you are referring to is mostly a list of drugs that will be administered in addition to untreated cells (placebo group) or PGE2-treated cells (study group) to prevent graft vs host disease and otherwise manage the patient. These people are sick and need a lot of other drugs.