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Herceptin, or Trastuzumab is employed to treat certain types of breast cancer with high efficiency. The drug consists of a monoclonal antibody raised against a protein called Her2, which is highly abundant in some tumours with high probability of migrating and becoming metastatic. Tumours found to have high levels of her2 are called “Her2 positive“.  When injected the drug binds to the surface of the tumour cells that have Her2 and make them an easy target for the immune system. Herceptin is used with increasing frequency but the costs associated to its use are very high. The high costs make it difficult to sustain long-term administration and thus the efficiency of the treatment may become compromised. Now, Canadian scientists have developed a method to produce Herceptin in tobacco plants. They inserted the genes encoding the antibody into special tobacco plants and let them grow. After a while, they crushed the leaves and purified active Herceptin in large amounts. They have tested their product and showed that is seems to work as well as the normal Herceptin.  This exciting study brings big hopes as it will help bring down the costs of the expensive Herceptin treatments.

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Resveratrol and red wine, healthy heart and longevity. Heart Fail Rev. 2010 Sep;15(5):467-77 Authors: Das DK, Mukherjee S, Ray D Resveratrol, a polyphenol phytoalexin, present in red wine and grapes possesses diverse biochemical and physiological properties, including estrogenic, antiplatelet, and anti-inflammatory properties as well as a wide range of health benefits ranging from chemoprevention to cardioprotection. Recently, several studies described resveratrol as an anti-aging compound. This review focuses on the anti-aging aspects of resveratrol, the possible mechanisms of action, and emerging controversy on its life-prolonging ability. It appears that resveratrol can induce the expression of several longevity genes including Sirt1, Sirt3, Sirt4, FoxO1, Foxo3a and PBEF and prevent aging-related decline in cardiovascular function including cholesterol level and inflammatory response, but it is unable to affect actual survival or life span of mice. PMID: 20238161 [PubMed - in process]

Botanical and nutritional compounds have been used for the treatment of cancer throughout history. These compounds also may be useful in the prevention of cancer. Population studies suggest that a reduced risk of cancer is associated with high consumption of vegetables and fruits. Thus, the cancer chemopreventive potential of naturally occurring phytochemicals is of great interest. There are numerous reports of cancer chemopreventive activity of dietary botanicals, including cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli, Allium vegetables such as garlic and onion, green tea, Citrus fruits, soybeans, tomatoes, berries, and ginger, as well as medicinal plants. Several lead compounds, such as genistein (from soybeans), lycopene (from tomatoes), brassinin (from cruciferous vegetables), sulforaphane (from asparagus), indole-3-carbinol (from broccoli), and resveratrol (from grapes and peanuts) are in preclinical or clinical trials for cancer chemoprevention. Phytochemicals have great potential in cancer prevention because of their safety, low cost, and oral bioavailability. In this review, we discuss potential natural cancer preventive compounds and their mechanisms of action.

Source: Gullet et al. Semin Oncol. 2010 Jun;37(3):258-81.

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Celgene Cellular Therapeutics (CCT), a branch of Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG), announced recently the development of a clinical application of stem cells derived from human placenta (HPDSCs) for use in hematopoietic reconstitution therapies. This important hallmark in the road to achieve therapeutic use of human plancenta stem cells occurred at the LSU Health Sciences Center Children’s Hospital (LSU) on March 28, 2008. The transplant was scheduled to treat a pediatric patient with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). This is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood. When the patient’s sibling was born in December 2007, human placental stem cells, along with cord blood, were collected and cryo-preserved and both products were used in the transplant.

CCT employs proprietary technologies for collecting, processing, and storing human plancenta-derived stem cells. This versatile kind of stem cells have a strong potential for developing therapeutic applications in, for example, leukemia and other hematological malignancies, solid tumor cancers, and autoimmune diseases. The company is also conducting research on other types of stem cells derived from the placenta that are obtained via additional proprietary methodologies.

The transplant, which is part of a multicenter clinical trial being conducted at LSU, together with other institutions, is using stem cells from placenta for patients with certain disorders including cancers and non-malignancies. The primary goal of theis study is to assess the safety of transplantation of umbilical cord blood boosted with placental stem cells from the same donor, There is also a secondary objective, which is assessing potential restoration of normal hematopoiesis and immune function with this combination of cells. The plan of the trial includes careful monitoring post-transplant for up to 24 months to monitor safety outcomes, engraftment, and survival.

“The patient is doing extremely well and, in fact, was discharged from the hospital one-to-two weeks earlier compared to traditional cord blood transplants,” said Lolie C. Yu, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Division Chief of the Pediatric Heme-Onc Program, Director of the BMT Program at LSUHSC/Children’s Hospital. “Neutrophil engraftment occurred earlier than anticipated in this proof-of-principle study further raising our hopes regarding the benefits of this treatment.”

Numerous professionals agree that there is considerable anticipation around the potential of placental stem cells. Another study by researchers from UCLA published earlier this year declared that blood-forming stem cells originate in the placenta in laboratory animals.

“We are excited to advance our study of the placenta as a source of stem cells that have the ability to effectively treat patients worldwide,” said Robert Hariri, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics. “We are pleased with this first positive step in our effort to bring this cutting-edge therapy to the clinic to treat sufferers with a variety of devastating diseases.”

“For the first time, we are transplanting human placenta-derived stem cells to treat patients with a variety of cancers and non-malignant diseases,” said Mitchell Cairo, M.D., who leads the clinical trial at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center, and is Chief of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Division at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian and Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine and Pathology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Our hope is that HPDSCs, in conjunction with cord blood stem cells, will expedite engraftment and improve treatment for patients.”

Regular exercise and consumption of caffeine protect the body from the destructive effects of ultraviolet (UVA) and therefore may be associated with the prevention of skin cancer, according to a new study by Rutgers  University (New Jersey), whose results are published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

According to this research, caffeine and exercise collaborate in the destruction of precancerous cells whose DNA has been damaged by UVA, causing self-destruction. “If apoptosis takes place in cells damaged by the sun, it will slow down the progression of cancer through them,” explained one of the authors of the study, Dr. Allan Conney.

The investigation was conducted with hairless mice that were exposed to ultraviolet radiation lamps that generated that damage DNA from the cells of their skin. In turn, four groups were established, one that drank water caffeine, another who exercised running on a wheel, a third group did both, while a fourth and final group did not carry out any of these behaviors. Rodents caffeine drinkers showed about a 95% increase in apoptosis induced by UVA, which exercised showed an increase of 120%, while those who made both approached an increase of 400%.