NEW POTENTIAL CANCER TREATMENT: IMPLANTING CANCER CELLS IN PATIENTS TO STOP CANCER GROWTH

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Jeffrey Newman

Researchers are now testing a novel new treatment to treat cancer by encapsulating tumor cells in seaweed and implanting them into the stomachs of cancer patients. The process causes the body to send a message to the cancerous growth to stop proliferating. The research is being done at the Rogosin Institute affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College and the FDA has approved testing on advanced prostate, colon and pancreas cancers. It is part of a new genre of using the body’s own biological mechanisms which have evolved over millions of years, to treat itself. The research is being backed by Metro-media Co. the privately held broadcast company and if the treatment works, any revenue will be funneled back into the charitable foundation established by the company’s owner John Kluge, until his death in September. The scientists believe that the proteins secreted by the encapsulated tumor cells trick the patient’s actual tumor cells into sensing similar cells nearby and the body instructs the actual tumor to stop growing. Research indicates that 700 different proteins or small proteins called peptides are secreted by the beads of cancer cells that are implanted including 30 which are known to have anti-tumor properties. While results on animals have been promising, it is too soon to know if the process will be successful on humans but the trials are going forward now. An article on the research will be published next week in the journal CANCER RESEARCH.