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| II) THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS 1.) TUMOR STOPPER Up till now, AIDS is claimed to be an incurable disease of the Century, yet, cancer is still the number 1 killer in most Western countries. According to the statistics of American Cancer Society, 1 in 3 of every woman/man will have cancer in their lifetime. In other words, 76 million Americans will eventually have cancer. This alarming trend continues despite the billions of dollar we have been pouring into cancer research. By the year 2000, half of the population will become cancer victims! To our surprise, these people are more likely to die from disease now than ever, compared with the statistics of 10 years ago. Each year, the mortality rate is about 150 per 100,000 population, and there is about 15,000 new cases presented to the Hong Kong hospitals, let alone those undetected and unreported. The most common cancers that Hong Kong people likely to have are: Lung cancer, hepatocarcinoma, nasopharyglcarcinoma, breast cancer, cervical cancer and stomach cancer. Presently, the most accepted treatments for cancer are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Unfortunately, they are not entirely specific in targeting cancer cells. Healthy tissues are often adversely affected in the process. At the same time, immune system of patients is usually severely weakened leaving the patients very much vulnerable to further attacks, leading to relapse. On the contrary, shark cartilage, a natural product. Has been found to stop tumor growth and its spread without causing any toxic effects. In face, it also boosts the immune system, both the T and The B systems, of patients at he same time. It has recently found its way into anti-cancer protocol which is supported by clinical research and numerous success case. The landmark study of cancer and cartilage began in 1974 when Dr. Prudden was granted a study protocol by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Prudden used bovine cartilage on patients that already failed conventional treatment modalities such as chemotherapy, radiation, and/or surgery, The following list of cancers were treated in Dr. Prudden's cartilage study: cancers of breast, ovary, cervix, prostate, rectum, spleen, liver, stomach, pancreas, lung, skin, bone brain, thyroid and Hodgkin's disease. At the end of the eleven years study, the result was astonishing. Ninety percent of the patients had a positive response with or without relapse. In the 1970's, Dr. Folkman of Harvard Medical School laid down the foundation which led to the medical use of shark cartilage. He demonstrated that "if tumors cannot establish a blood vessel network which is required to nurture tumors, they stop growing at a small size of pinhead, one to two cubic millimeters large, and will no grow further." This is because tumors release chemicals which induce the formation of new blood network. The 'private vasculature' of tumors performs 3 important functions, namely supply of nutrients to the rapidly-growing tumor, removal of waste products from tumor cells and facilitation of its spread to other parts of the body. Scientists started their search of effective substances which inhibit blood vessel formation of tumors. Inhibitors of tumor angiogenesis have been identified from natural substances nature. Even the most widely proliferating, uncontrolled tumors seldom invade cartilage. The reason is the presence in cartilage of the angiogenesis inhibitor which stops vascula -risation of solid tumors. When bovine cartilage was infused into rabbits or mice, no toxic effects were observed in the animals, yet there growth of new blood vessels towards im- planted tumors ceased and tumor growth stopped. In 1983, chemical engineers at Boston Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) Discovered ingredients in shark cartilage that stops tumor growth, a process known as anti-angiogenesis, by preventing blood vessels from growing and feeding tumors. The scientists purified from shark cartilage four or possibly more proteins, which are found to inhibit angiogenesis in-vivo, capillary endothelial cell proliferation and migration of cancer cells in-vitro, in three separate bioassays. The proteins are also an inhibitor of mammalian collagenase. They used CAM (Chorioallantonic Membrane) assay to test its ability in inhibiting vascularisation by the proteins the called 'Cartilage Derived Inhi- bitor' (CDI). The result indicated shark cartilage is of very high potency. Further researches and clinical studies have shown that shark cartilage is an extremely powerful anti-angiogenesis substance in stopping the growth of cancer cells and prevent metastasis. Dr. Langer of M.I.T. went on to test both calf and shark carilage and discovered the superiority of shark cartilage. The protein that was associated with destruction of tumors was found to be 1,000 times of higher concentrations in shark cartilage than that in calf (bovine). Given the larger size and greater percentage of cartilage body weight in sharks as compared to other mammalian species like calf, sharks contain as much as 100,000 times more angiogenesis inhibitory activity on a per animal basis. From this, Dr. Langer and Anne Lee considered the high angiogenesis inhibitory activity present in shark cartilage should not only be helpful in exploring the enzyme inhibition pro file of angiogenesis inhibitors in cartilage, but also in conducting anti-tumor studies. Research with the angiogenesis inhibitor on tumors transplanted into the eyes of rabbits indicated that the substance worked by depriving cancer mass of its necessary supply of blood. Tumor cells continued to grow under rabbit corneas treated with the substance, but they did not form tumor masses. After 19 days, all untreated control animals had large tumors forming under the cornea. On the other hand, all the eyes treated with the shark cartilage inhibitor extract showed no evidence of expanded tumor mass and little sign of new blood vessel growth. A later research by Dr. D' Amore of Boston Children Hospital reported: Angiogenesis, the process of in the spread of solid tumors and its subsequent growth. The anti-angiogenesis factor obtained from shark cartilage is now admitted as a Significant addition to anti-cancer battle plan. Unlike normal adult blood network, vasculature of tumors is typically unorganized and fragile, requiring constant regeneration. This makes it a much more vulnerable target to the attack of powerful anti-angiogenic shark cartilage. This also explains why shark cartilage is specific against tumor with out adversely affection normal blood network and tissue. Dr. Weidner's studies confirm Dr. D' Amore's belief that metastasis is strongly linked to the extent of vascularisation associated with tumors. The result of his study of breast cancer id as follows: |
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| * 200 X field of breast cancer There is a direct relationship between the number of blood vessels of tumor to its likelihood of spread to other part of the body. Thus, angiogenesis inhibitor, according to Dr. Lane, is a specific and powerful tool in the combat of cancer growth and its metastasis. The first study that proved cartilage could be useful in terms of killing human cancer cells was conducted by Dr. Durie, Professor of Haematology and Oncology in the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center. He reported on cartilage tested against myeloma, colon, and breast cancer dells with the following results: |
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| In Belgium, Dr.Atassi tested the anti-tumor effect of several prototypes of shark cartilage products on the B-16 melanoma. The results were extremely encouraging in that
cartilage at all tested concentrations demonstrated significant degree of effectiveness. CLINICAL STUDIES In the summer of 1992, Dr.Martinez of New Jersey used up to 120g of shark cartilage* daily on 110 patients. By the end of 1992, CAT scans and MRI revealed that at least 15 of his patients had dramatic turnabout in their conditions. They are basically tumor-free while the rest of the 110 patients shows a reduction in tumor size. |
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