Archive for the ‘General Cancer Research’ Category

Cell’s mechanical changes nudge cancer

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Posted 31 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Mathematical and Physical Modelling, Physics and Engineering

“To date, cancer research has focused on biochemical factors,” says postdoctoral student Parag Katira. “Instead of looking to solve numerous interdependent biochemical carcinogenic factors, we can now focus on a small number of mechanical factors. It’s a new approach.” (Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki / Shutterstock)

U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US) — Mechanical property changes in cells may be responsible for the progression of cancer—a discovery that could pave the way for new ways to predict, treat, and prevent the disease.

To present a unique physics-based perspective, researchers devised a 3-D cancer model that shows that softening of cells and changes in cell binding cause cancerous behavior. These mechanical property changes cause cells to divide uncontrollably—making them less likely to die and resulting in malignant tumor growth.

“To date, cancer research has focused on biochemical factors,” says Parag Katira, a postdoctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin. “Instead of looking to solve numerous interdependent biochemical carcinogenic factors, we can now focus on a small number of mechanical factors. It’s a new approach.”

Cancers are caused by various genetic and carcinogenic factors, such as synthetic chemicals, radiation, the environment, and physical stress. However, there is an uncanny similarity in mechanical property changes, such as degree of stiffness and ability to bind to other cells, that differentiate healthy and cancerous cells, as previously observed for several types of cancers.

Cancer cells are softer than healthy cells, and when surrounded by stiffer, healthy cells, cancerous cells stay compact and don’t spread. When the number of neighboring cancerous cells increases, however, the resisting force from stiffer cells is lowered and softer cancerous cells relax and expand to cover a larger surface area. Stretching of cells increases their multiplication rate and lowers cells’ probability of death.

As reported in Physical Review Letters, the researchers’ computational model replicates the life cycle of cells within a tissue and is used to observe how mechanical property changes affect a cell’s behavior and fate within that tissue.

The team started with a completely healthy tissue where all the cells had the same stiffness and binding ability, and then softened a small cluster of cells at the center of the tissue. As long as the number of softened cells was less than a critical value, the tissue remained stable and healthy.

Past this threshold, there was an increase in the multiplication rate of softer cells compared with healthy, stiffer cells. Beyond this point, tumors grew by replacing surrounding healthy tissue and displayed clinically observed characteristics of malignant tumors.

The researchers also analyzed how a cell’s ability to bind, or stick, to other cells affected metastasis, or progression. They observed that changes in the inter-cellular binding ability of softened cells controlled the rate and form of growing tumors. They believe this model identifies a common physical mechanism by which various biochemical carcinogenic or genetic factors can drive cancer progression.

“We’re very excited about these results because they point to a unified understanding of cancer progression,” says Roger Bonnecaze, professor of chemical engineering. “This understanding opens up new avenues for attacking cancer.”

Researchers from Boston University contributed to the study.

More news from University of Texas at Austin: www.utexas.edu/news/

Toxic levels of chemical found in dog foods

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Posted 09 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Dog Osteosarcoma

Toxic amounts of a fluoride have been found in several major brands of dog food, possibly putting pets at a higher risk of cancer, neurotoxicity and other life-threatening illnesses, a research organization warns.

The dog foods contain fluoride levels 2.5 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s national drinking water standard and those excessive levels “can predispose dogs to health problems, along with high veterinary bills, later in life,” according to the Environmental Working Group.

“Due to a failed regulatory system and suspect practices by some in the pet food industry, countless dogs may be ingesting excessive fluoride that could put them at risk,” Olga Naidenko, lead researcher of the Environmental Working Group-sponsored study, states in a media release.

Scientists have yet to determine how much fluoride is safe for dogs, but they have found people who consume excessive fluoride often develop mottled teeth (dental fluorosis) and weakened bones, leading to more fractures. High fluoride consumption is also associated with reproductive and developmental system damage, neurotoxicity, hormonal disruption, and bone cancer.

Three studies show that boys ages 6 to 8 who drink fluoridated tap water face a heightened risk of osteosarcoma, the rare but deadly form of bone cancer associated with fluoride. Scientists suspect that boys’ rapid growth may make them more susceptible to bone cancer.

Dogs may be even more vulnerable to osteosarcoma than humans, according to EWG. More than 8,000 osteosarcoma cases occur in dogs each year in the United States, nearly 10 times the number that occur in people, according to the study.

“Whatever the size and the appetite of a dog, combined fluoride exposure from food and water can easily range into unsafe territory,” the study states. “And, unlike children, who enjoy a variety of foods as they grow up, puppies and adult dogs eat the same food from the same bag every day, constantly consuming more fluoride than is healthy for normal growth.”

In the study, 10 brands of dog food were tested. Two dog food brands, one with vegetarian ingredients and one made by a small manufacturer, had no detectable levels of fluoride. But eight others – all major brands – found to contain high levels of fluoride. The contents of those brands included chicken byproduct meal, poultry byproduct meal, chicken meal, beef and bone meal. Any ingredient described as “animal meal” is basically ground bones, cooked with steam, dried, and mashed to make a cheap dog food filler.

The Washington-based Environmental Working Group, whose stated purpose is to protect human health and the environment, advises pet parents to feed food to their dogs that contains no bone meal and other meat byproducts to minimize exposure to harmful pollutants, including fluoride. “To protect pets from excessive fluoride exposures, dog owners can purchase pet foods that do not contain bone meal and other animal byproducts,” the study states.

Pet food should be held to the same health and safety standards as human food and should be free of contaminants that may endanger pets’ health, the study states. Yet, the federal Food and Drug Administration has little authority and few resources to ensure that products produced for pets are safe. The fact so many popular national pet food brands contain previously undetected health hazards shows that better federal food safety regulations are needed.

Vietnam surgery removes tumor twice man’s weight

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Posted 07 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Surgery
By Elizabeth Yuan, CNN
updated 4:42 PM EST, Fri January 6, 2012
Doctors say Nguyen Duy Hai, shown with his mother, has had the tumor for his entire life.
Doctors say Nguyen Duy Hai, shown with his mother, has had the tumor for his entire life.

(CNN) — A Vietnamese man is recovering in the intensive care unit Friday, a day after surgery that completely removed from his right leg a tumor twice his body weight, according to the hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

The growing tumor had rendered the patient, Nguyen Duy Hai, virtually immobile until his surgery.

The excised tumor weighed 180 pounds (82 kilos), according to the hospital, a bit less than the 200 pounds (90 kilos) estimated before surgery.

Hai, 31, of Da Lat City, has Von Recklinghausen’s neurofibromatosis, said Dr. Jean-Marcel Guillon, chief executive officer of FV Hospital, where the 12-hour procedure was performed.

The autosomal dominant hereditary disorder is the same disease that contributed to the extraordinarily large head of Joseph Merrick, whose story was dramatized in the 1980 film, “The Elephant Man,” explained Guillon.

The tumor “may return,” Guillon wrote in an e-mail to CNN, “but we can operate him again, and it won’t never reach such a size anymore.”

Doctors expect that Hai’s cardiac and pulmonary functions will return to normal during the next 10 days. After that, Hai faces rehabilitation, physical therapy and possible help from the hospital’s clinical psychologist to deal with issues pertaining to body image, Guillon said. “This patient lived all his life with this tumor. It was part of him.”

Hai also needs to learn how to do things that his body had forgotten, including using the leg he had never used normally, Guillon added.

The tumor was first discovered when Hai was four years old and had grown to its enormous size since then.

Hai had undergone a surgery to amputate his leg — and with it the tumor — in 1997, but in 2001, the tumor grew, and no doctors agreed to operate on him, according to the hospital.

Furthermore, his family could not afford surgery, and very few surgeons in Vietnam can treat neurofibromas, Guillon said.

The surgery was considered risky with a 50% success rate for a number of reasons, Guillon explained. “First, such a giant tumor has developed its own blood system with huge arteries branched out from the normal vascular system. Therefore, one of the main risks was abundant bleeding.”

Doctors used a “cell saver,” which suctions and filters the patient’s blood before re-injecting it into the body, along with extra blood for the surgery.

The second and third risks lay in heart function (“How would a heart react when a tumor with twice the weight of a patient is removed?”) and the effects of a long — more than 13 hours — anesthesia, Guillon said.

Leading the surgical team was Dr. McKay McKinnon, a specialist in plastic and reconstructive surgery from Chicago.

McKinnon has been credited with removing a 200-pound tumor from a woman in the U.S. state of Michigan in 2000, as well as a 176-pound (80 kilo) tumor from a Romanian woman in 2004.

Aside from McKinnon, no one else on the team had any prior experience with Hai’s condition or performed such a surgery before, Guillon said. “Though the surgical techniques used by Dr. McKinnon are usual and routinely used by our surgeons, the difference lays in his experience: he knows what to expect and what to do at specific crucial moments.”

Finally, the team of Vietnamese surgeons and anesthetists had never worked with McKinnon before, and communication issues could turn dangerous in an operating theatre, Guillon said, adding that two of the three Vietnamese surgeons also go by “Dr. Thai.”

Nonetheless, the communication among all in the operating theatre went “extremely well,” Guillon said.

During the surgery, FV Hospital set up a live video feed for other doctors and hospitals to watch.

Video during the surgery showed five people assisting in the disposal of the excised tumor from its own gurney into a yellow container, which was then sealed.

A small piece has been sent for examination; the rest will be incinerated as with all biological waste, Guillon said.

The cost of the surgery was estimated at $20,000, but the hospital said it will charge 60% of the cost, which will be covered jointly by the Red Cross of Da Lat City and sponsors.

The hospital said it is financing all the traveling costs and accommodation for McKinnon, who is performing the surgery free of charge.

 

Harm in Hospitals Seldom Reported, OIG Says

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Posted 07 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Ethics of Science, Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Hospital Safety, Legal

By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: January 06, 2012

WASHINGTON — Most hospital errors that result in harm to Medicare patients go unreported, and even when they are, hospitals rarely change the way they operate in order to prevent similar errors in the future, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

The OIG found that hospital staff did not report 86% of adverse events, whether errors or accidents. Hospital administrators interviewed for the report suggested that doctors and nurses are unclear about what constitutes a reportable adverse event.

For their report, investigators selected 420 adverse events from an earlier OIG review on hospital errors and had physicians review the medical records on those cases.

The doctors identified 302 events of preventable harm to patients, 128 of which were considered serious, including a death from septic shock and four deaths from excessive bleeding after administration of anticoagulants.

To determine which of the 302 events were actually reported in hospital error-reporting systems, the OIG requested error reporting data from the hospitals where the selected adverse events occurred.

The OIG investigators also interviewed hospital administrators about the specific events and why they weren’t reported. All of the hospitals involved had reporting systems in place and said they expected staff to report errors that resulted in patient harm, but none had a standardized list of which events should be reported.

The administrators told OIG investigators that the most common reasons that errors went unreported were that no clear error occurred leading up to the adverse event, that the event was thought to be a common side effect to the treatment, and that the event occurred so frequently that it was considered too common to report.

For instance, only one of 17 catheter-related infections — a common event in Medicare beneficiaries — was reported.

In his conclusion, report author Inspector General Daniel Levinson wrote that it is crucial that the adverse event reporting systems do what they’re supposed to and said that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) are in the best position to provide hospitals with guidance and incentives to better use reporting systems.

Specifically, AHRQ and CMS should create and promote an adverse event list to be used by hospitals, other healthcare providers, and medical and nursing schools. The list would detail the full range of patient harm that can occur in hospitals so hospital workers would have a clearer idea of what events should be reported.

CMS and AHRQ agreed with the recommendations, according to OIG.

Levinson also recommended that CMS provide guidance to accreditors on how to better assess hospital efforts to track and analyze adverse events. As a condition of participation in Medicare, hospitals must go through an accreditation process that proves they are tracking events that result in patients being harmed.

The OIG report on which the current analysis was based was done in 2010. It found that nearly 14% of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries experienced a preventable adverse event that resulted in extended hospitalization, required life-sustaining intervention, caused permanent disability, or resulted in death.

An additional 13.5% experienced events that required some sort of additional treatment, but were not life-threatening, the 2010 report showed.

The idea of doing a better job of tracking patient harm as a result of medical treatment gained popularity after the Institute of Medicine’s 1999 landmark report “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System.” That report argued that hospitals can only address patient safety problems if adverse events are identified and adequately described.

Federal Judge Tosses Medical Marijuana Case

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Posted 07 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Cannabis, Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Legal, Marijuana

By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: January 06, 2012

A federal judge has thrown out Arizona governor Jan Brewer’s complaint against the state’s medical marijuana law.

The law, passed in 2010, created a system of marijuana dispensaries that are regulated by the state’s health department. Patients are banned from growing their own marijuana if they live within a 25-mile radius of a dispensary.

Brewer and the state’s attorney general filed the lawsuit just days before the state was scheduled to accept applications from potential dispensary operators. The suit asked for a judgment on whether state officials who administer Arizona’s medical marijuana programs could be at risk for federal prosecution, since marijuana is illegal under federal law.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton of Arizona on Wednesday dismissed the complaint, ruling that the Arizona officials failed to show that an imminent threat of prosecution exists for state employees, or that state employees in any of the 16 states with medical marijuana laws have faced prosecution for violating federal laws that make marijuana use and dispensing illegal.

Recently, federal authorities in California began cracking down on the state’s medical marijuana industry, but they are targeting those who are dispensing the drug illegally, and have said those who need marijuana for medical purposes — such as to help ease the effects of cancer or AIDS — will still be able to get it.

Even if the threat of prosecution for state employees in Arizona were imminent, Brewer and the other plaintiffs in the case — the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services and the director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety — didn’t show they would suffer direct harm or immediate hardship if the case wasn’t immediately decided, Bolton wrote, so the case is “not appropriate for judicial review.”

Matthew Benson, director of communications for Brewer’s office, called the ruling a disappointment.

“What this federal court has essentially said is, it won’t hear the state’s lawsuit until a state employee is prosecuted or notified that they imminently face federal prosecution for their part in administering Proposition 203,” he said in an email to MedPage Today.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) praised the decision.

“It is unconscionable for Governor Brewer to continue to force very sick people to needlessly suffer by stripping them of the legal avenue through which to obtain their vital medicine,” Ezekiel Edwards, director of the ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project, said in a press release. “[The] ruling underscores the need for state officials to stop playing politics and implement the law as approved by a majority of Arizona voters so that thousands of patients can access the medicine their doctors believe is most effective for them.”

In addition to Arizona, 15 other states have medical marijuana laws — Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Medical marijuana also is legal in District of Columbia.

Scientists discover gene responsible for lung cancer

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Posted 07 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category genetic research, Lung Cancer

SINGAPORE, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) — A team of Singaporean scientists have identified a gene responsible for lung cancer, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research said on Friday.

A small number of cells, known as cancer stem cells or tumor- initiating cells (TIC), are responsible for the promotion of tumor growth. The team of scientists found a marker, known as CD166, to identify these cells, it said.

The team, led by Bing Lim, associate director of cancer stem cell biology at the Genome Institute of Singapore, and Elaine Lim, medical oncologist affiliated with Tan Tock Seng Hospital and National Cancer Center Singapore, did more genomic study of the TICs, and discovered several genes that were important for the growth of cancer cells.

The scientists discovered that in abnormal instances when the level of a metabolic enzyme known as glycine decarboxylase rises significantly, it causes changes in the behavior of the cell, making it cancerous.

The glycine decarboxylase is a normal occurring enzyme in cells, present in small quantities.

The finding is reported in the online advance issue of Cell on Jan. 5 and is believed to be a huge step towards finding a cure for the disease.

No Mortality Benefit Seen from PSA Screening

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Posted 07 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Prostate Cancer, PSA testing, Watchful Waiting

 

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: January 06, 2012
Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.

Prostate cancer screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) afforded no obvious prostate cancer mortality benefit during 13 years of follow-up in a large randomized trial.

In fact, screened patients had a slightly higher prostate cancer mortality: 3.7 per 10,000 person-years, versus 3.4 for unscreened men.

The results emphasize the need to find some means to identify patients who are most likely to benefit from PSA screening, said the first author of a report in the January issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

“Routine mass screening of the population, purely on the basis of a man’s age, is not going to be an effective way of reducing his chance of dying of prostate cancer,” Gerald Andriole, MD, of Washington University in St. Louis, told MedPage Today.

Action Points

    • Prostate cancer screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) afforded no obvious prostate cancer mortality benefit during 13 years of follow-up in a large randomized trial.
  • The study found that screened patients had a slightly higher prostate cancer mortality: 3.7 per 10,000 person-years, versus 3.4 for unscreened men.

“Having said that, that’s not to say that no man should get PSA testing,” he continued. “There are subsets of men in the population at large who do seem to stand a good chance of benefiting from PSA testing.

“Those are men who are young, with no comorbidities, and generally very healthy. These are men with the longest life expectancy overall. They are men who, even if they harbor a nonaggressive, slow-growing cancer, are nonetheless expected to live long enough to die of prostate cancer in the absence of it being identified and treated.”

Screening also is reasonable for men who have an above-average risk of prostate cancer, such as African Americans and men with a strong family history of the disease, Andriole added.

The data 0ffered nothing to change the conclusions of an earlier analysis of data from the same study, the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) screening program. After a median follow-up of seven years (up to as long as 10 years) the screened and unscreened groups had a similar prostate cancer mortality.

The prostate cancer portion of PLCO involved 76,685 men who were ages 55 to 74 and cancer-free at enrollment. Study participants were randomized to annual PSA screening for six years or to usual care, which sometimes included “opportunistic” PSA screening.

The initial report from the study showed a prostate cancer rate of 116 per 10,000 in the screened group compared with 95 per 10,000 in the control group. Prostate cancer mortality was 2 per 10,000 with screening and 1.7 per 10,000 in the control group.

The current report showed that after a median follow-up of 13 years, cancer incidence was 108.4 and 97.1 per 10,000 in the screened and unscreened groups, respectively. The difference represented a statistically significant 12% increase in cancer incidence in the screened group (RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.17).

Mortality was 3.7 and 3.4 per 10,000 with and without screening, respectively, a nonsignificant difference.

“This article updates with more person-years of follow-up our previously reported finding of no reduction in mortality from prostate cancer in the intervention arm compared with the control arm to 10 years, with no indication of a reduction in prostate cancer mortality to 13 years,” the authors wrote of their findings.

Responding to the study, Otis W. Brawley, MD, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, acknowledged that the results are consistent with other studies that have pointed to a potential harm from overscreening and unnecessary treatment of indolent prostate cancer.

“This trial does suggest that if there is truly an advantage to mass [PSA] screening it is small,” Brawley said in a statement.

Even so, the results do not rule out the possibility of a benefit in some high-risk men or the value of PSA screening in men who want the test, he added.

“I truly believe that a man who is concerned about prostate cancer and understands that experts are not certain that screening saves lives, but it definitely causes anxiety and needless treatment, can reasonably choose to be screened,” said Brawley.

“A man who is more concerned with unnecessary diagnosis and treatment might reasonably choose not to be screened. It is an area that needs to be left to an informed patient.”

Goff Hill Ltd. Announces the Cure for Cancer and Viral Diseases

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Posted 06 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Drugs, virus studies

press release

Jan. 5, 2012, 1:17 p.m. EST

WORTHING, Barbados, Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Goff Hill Ltd., a pharmaceutical research development company, announces the exciting new cancer drug that causes the cancer tumor cells to completely disintegrate with one five (5) day treatment. Goff Hill Ltd.’s cancer agent eliminates the control molecule for all Cancer Cell Development, with the resulting disintegration of the cancer cell. There is no scar tissue remaining. Clinically proven, it is a cure for primary brain, breast, lung, and colon cancer tumors. The drug is directed only at the cancer cells and has no side effect on normal cells. There is no toxicity. There were no seizures in the treated patients for brain cancer. There is no residual scar evidence after the disintegrated tumor cells are cleaned up by the Janitor Cells (Megakarocytes).

This is New Medical Science. Our drug controls the trigger to cancer cell development. The Goff Hill Limited cancer drug, in a five (5) day treatment, produces complete disintegration of the tumor. Our cancer drug is a cure for primary brain tumors, breast, colon, and lung tumors.

The Etiology of SSPE and MS is the Measles Virus. The Goff Hill Limited anti-viral drug is a factual scientific clinically proven curative drug for SSPE and MS. The treatment produces improved motor, sensory, and visual neurologic function. There is no recurrence after stopping the drug.

Both of our drugs are patented.

Look at this from “a cost stand point” in the health care industry. It is a minimum of 25% reduction in the total cost of medical care.

There is hope. There is a cure!

www.GoffHillLtd.com

Goff Hill Limited is on the leading edge of investigations associated with the vast amounts of accumulated data on molecular structures and creative use of information regarding chemical molecules and biological macromolecules. The strategic scientific direction is focused on designing novel candidate pharmacologic agents for a wide range of disorders including primary brain cancers, multiple sclerosis, various viral infections, as well as other neurological diseases.

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.Dr. William G. Tucker http://www.profnetconnect.com/dr.williamtucker

SOURCE Goff Hill Ltd.

Cancer Researcher at Duquesne University Develops Nontoxic Compounds

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Posted 06 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Drugs, experimental treatments, Molecular

press release

Jan. 5, 2012, 12:52 p.m. EST

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — New anti-tumor compounds produced by Dr. Aleem Gangjee, Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Pharmacy at Duquesne University’s Mylan School of Pharmacy, show such promise for fighting hard-to-treat tumors that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has placed them on its fast track for development.

These agents fight breast and other cancers that become resistant to Taxol and other medications. Preliminary data show that the compounds kill tumor cells without toxicity to normal cells–avoiding the sickness that accompanies most existing cancer-fighters.

“One of the limitations of current cancer treatment is drug toxicity; it necessitates discontinuation of the drug, even if it is effective,” Gangjee said. “Because our compounds are not expected to sicken patients and normal cells, it could be continued without toxicity.”

The NIH’s National Cancer Institute checks hundreds of promising compounds and those showing the greatest potential are fast tracked. Three compounds from Gangjee are in this category.

These water-soluble compounds are easy to make and inhibit tumor cells at low concentrations. The agents are like Trojan horses, effective at tricking cancer cells into accepting them as a building block used to feed tumors.

With more than 1.5 million new cases of cancer diagnosed a year, Gangjee’s compounds could positively impact many lives.

Gangjee, who holds four concurrent NIH grants, has received more than 25 patents in 20 years of research at Duquesne, including a recent patent for treatment of ovarian cancer. Ovarian, lung and pancreatic cancers are difficult to detect until later stages–and this drug works particularly well in late-stage treatment, unlike many current therapies.

During the past 40 years, Gangjee’s research has sprung from the inspiration of his family’s own experience. When Gangjee was 20 years old, his grandmother died from breast cancer. The loss turned Gangjee away from a corporate future as an industrial chemist and propelled him into medicinal chemistry and a career focused on fighting cancer.

Duquesne University Founded in 1878, Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation’s top Catholic research universities for its award-winning faculty and tradition of academic excellence. Duquesne, a campus of more than 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students, has been nationally recognized for its academic programs, community service and commitment to sustainability. www.duq.edu .

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.Aleem Gangjee https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=106284

SOURCE Duquesne University

More Cannabis Science Brand Extracts Successful Cancer Treatments Confirmed As Self Medicating Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patient Reports Continued Shrinking of Cancer Tumor

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Posted 03 Jan 2012 — by James Street
Category Cannabis, Marijuana

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan 03, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Cannabis Science, Inc. CBIS 0.00% a pioneering U.S. biotech company developing pharmaceutical cannabis (marijuana) products. The Company is very pleased to report the continuing successful progress by patient who has been topically self-administering Cannabis Science extracts for Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cancer. Cannabis Science is in a unique position to evaluate the effectiveness of different formulations by working closely with physicians and patients in medical marijuana states where patients can determine the effectiveness of various cannabis-based formulations.

For example, as previously announced, this patient has photo-documented dramatic shrinkage and subsequent disappearance in the cancer tumor. We will release documentation to the public once treatment is completed and has been properly confirmed by clinical biopsy.

Cannabis Science is focused on establishing clinically confirmed data that will lead to standardized products under the Cannabis Science label, thus confirming the numerous anecdotal reports confirming the anti-cancer properties of whole cannabis and cannabinoid extracts.

Cannabis Science is committed to making cannabis-based medicines available to the public as rapidly as possible. The Company is taking multiple approaches to accomplishing this aim in the United States. The science of cannabinoids has exploded over the past decade, laying the scientific foundation for the many medicinal uses of this unique plant. Cannabinoids are a class of biologically active compounds produced by all vertebrates (endocannabinoids) the Cannabis plant (phytocannabinoids), and more recently patentable synthetic compounds produced by chemists. Today’s modern peer-reviewed science supports the many historical uses that were discovered over thousands of years of medicinal use by herbalists.

Cannabis Science, in conjunction with several Colorado-licensed dispensaries and physicians, consults with a number of cancer patients who were seeking to inform themselves of the current peer-reviewed scientific literature, regarding modern and historical use of cannabis preparations for treating cancers so that they can make informed decisions regarding their self-directed, self administered cancer treatment.

The first two Cannabis Science Brand Formulations, Cannabis Science CT-1 and Cannabis Science MT-1 are now available at both Cannabis Therapeutics and Marisol Therapeutics exclusively for Colorado State licensed medical marijuana patients.

Cannabis Science MT-1: Produced by Marisol Therapeutics: A family-owned shop, Marisol Therapeutics was founded to assist medical marijuana patients in obtaining medical marijuana in Colorado. They believe patients have the right to safe, confidential, quality medical marijuana and products. They recommend medical marijuana from their own experience with unrelenting and previously untreatable pain. “We understand, we care, we want you to heal.” Marisal Therapeutics has produced a custom blend of but is derived from their proprietary strains that were developed over 30 years by a Native American Vietnam veteran in order to address his medical needs. Cannabis Science CT-1 has been analyzed and shown to be free of insecticides and molds. The product is produced in soil under organic roof conditions.

ADDRESS: 922 Kimble Drive, Pueblo West, CO 81007

PHONE: 719-547-4000

EMAIL: info@marisolmed.com or http://marisolmed.com/ for more information.

Cannabis Science CT-1: Produced by Cannabis Therapeutics was Colorado’s first dispensary. Working with local law enforcement, state officials, legal experts, medical physicians, and researchers, Cannabis Therapeutics sets a standard of both safety and consistent quality to its members as well as the community at large. Cannabis Therapeutics is a professional medical business that employs all its policies and regulations to ensure the most stringent adherence to the law. Second in importance to legality is implementation of standardizing techniques to ensure both repeatability in dosing and quality of medicine. Cannabis Therapeutics began as an organization built by individuals that did not receive satisfactory relief from conventional therapies. Cannabis Therapeutics has produced a high quality cannabis extract from a custom blend of buds hydroponically grown medical marijuana strains. Cannabis Science CT-1 has been analyzed and shown to be free of insecticides and molds.

ADDRESS: 907 E Fillmore St., Colorado Springs, CO 80907

http://www.cannabistherapeutics.net/ for more information.

About Cannabis Science, Inc.

Cannabis Science, Inc. is at the forefront of pharmaceutical grade medical marijuana research and development. The second formulations will address the needs of patients choosing to use concentrated cannabis extracts to treat their ailments. Eventually, all Americans will have access to a safe and effective FDA approved medicine regardless of which state they live in. To maintain that marijuana is a dangerous, addictive drug with no medical value is scientifically absurd. Cannabis medicines, with no effective lethal dose, are far safer than aspirin, acetaminophen, and most other OTC drugs that kill thousands of Americans every year.

The Company works with world authorities on phytocannabinoid science targeting critical illnesses, and adheres to scientific methodologies to develop, produce and commercialize phytocannabinoid-based pharmaceutical products. In sum, we are dedicated to the creation of cannabis-based medicines, both with and without psychoactive properties, to treat disease and the symptoms of disease, as well as for general health maintenance.

Forward Looking Statements

This Press Release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. A statement containing works such as “anticipate,” “seek,” intend,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” or similar phrases may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Some or all of the events or results anticipated by these forward-looking statements may not occur. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company’s reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based drugs. Cannabis Science, Inc. does not undertake any duty nor does it intend to update the results of these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Cannabis Science, Inc.

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