Researchers led by an Indian-origin investigator are testing the suitability of a synthetic cannabinoid drug - dexanabinol - for curing brain cancer. Preliminary tests show that it kills cultured cancer cells derived from many tumour types, a US report says. Additional research in Santosh Kesari's neuro-oncology lab at the University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center, demonstrated the drug's anti-cancer effects in patient-derived brain cancer cell lines. Kesari is the principal study-investigator.

It could be given as a weekly intravenous infusion. More recently, researchers at e-Therapeutics, the study sponsor, showed that dexanabinol (ETS2101) kills cultured cancer cells derived from many tumour types. "In this Phase I study, we are examining the safety of multiple doses of dexanabinol, extent of penetration into the brain, and suitability for future trials. What we hope to determine is the safe and optimal dose of drug in the brain," said Kesari, according to a California statement.

Dexanabinol is a cannabinoid derivative that causes no psychotropic (altering perception or behaviour) effects. It was tested previously as a neuro-protective in patients with traumatic brain injury. During these trials the drug was found to cross the blood-brain barrier.

The blood-brain barrier has been defined by The Free Dictionary "as a physiological mechanism that alters the permeability of brain capillaries so that certain drugs are prevented from entering brain tissue, while other substances are allowed to enter freely."

Dexanabinol's potential in fighting cancer was identified through a new approach to drug discovery called network pharmacology, a way to analyze the network of proteins underlying a disease process. Network pharmacology enables scientists to seek drugs from among existing compounds, or design new molecules, that act simultaneously on a number of individual proteins to disrupt the cancer-susceptible network.

Scientific trials are to test whether mistletoe can help boost the immune system of cancer patients.

The Aberdeen University pilot study will be overseen by cancer specialist Professor Steven Heys, from the university's medical school.

The study will be run jointly with Camphill Medical Practice in Aberdeen, which regularly offers cancer patients mistletoe therapy.

It will involve women with breast cancer.

Dr Stefan Geider, a GP at the Camphill practice, said some patients who have had mistletoe injections had noticed an impact on their wellbeing.

"We see an increase in energy levels, less fatigue, good appetite, better sleeping, high motivation, from my clinical experience," he said.

"From seeing patients on a regular basis, my experience is that mistletoe has, with some people - although not with all - an impact on tumour reduction."

However, he said it was important people realised that it was not a miracle cure.

"Mistletoe has to my experience helped a lot of patients tremendously, both in terms of quality of life as well as life expectancy," he said.

"But it does not work for everybody - it's not a miracle cure. We need to find out why the mistletoe works for some people, and not for others - that's why we need the trials."

Many in the medical profession do not believe mistletoe has any effect on cancer, and think it should not be prescribed, citing a lack of good quality evidence.
'Quality of life'

Cancer specialist Prof Heys said: "There isn't any evidence that mistletoe does have an anti-cancer effect, in terms of prolonging the life of patients.

"What it does do, possibly, is improve the quality of life of patients with breast cancer who are having chemotherapy.

"Therefore I think it's important to look and evaluate that and study it, in very good randomised controlled trials, conducted in a very controlled setting."

He said many of his patients were now using alternative treatments alongside traditional ones.

"A recent study we conducted last year showed that 70% of patients were taking complementary or alternative medicines," he said.

"Given that, I think it's important to be able to understand if mistletoe does have effects on quality of life so that we can present that to patients."

Researchers have found a special population of stem cells in cord blood that has the innate ability to migrate to the intestine and contribute to the cell population there, suggesting the cells' potential to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

These cells are involved in the formation of blood vessels and may prove to be a tool for improving the vessel abnormalities found in IBD, said lead author Graca Almeida-Porada, MD, PhD, a professor at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

IBD, which is characterised by frequent diarrhoea and abdominal pain, actually refers to two conditions ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in which the intestines become red and swollen and develop ulcers.

With IBD, blood vessels in the intestine leak and contribute to inflammation

While there is currently no cure for IBD, there are drug therapies aimed at reducing inflammation and preventing the immune response. However, these therapies aren't always effective. The long-term aim of the research is to develop an injectable cell therapy to induce tissue recovery.

The work, performed while Almeida-Porada was at the University of Nevada, also involved colleagues from Indiana University School of Medicine.

The researchers studied a special population of cells, known as endothelial colony-forming cells, found in cord blood, bone marrow and circulating blood.

The finding in 1997 that the cells can contribute to blood vessel formation in adults, not just embryos, initiated the notion of using them for therapy. Studies in humans have validated the ability of these cells to improve reduced blood flow to the limbs and to treat heart diseases.

However, there have been few studies to explore the inherent biologic ability of these cells to home to different organs and contribute to tissue-specific cell populations. Evaluating their potential to migrate to the intestine was an obvious choice, said Almeida-Porada, because dysfunctional blood vessels are a hallmark of IBD.

Not only are circulating levels of vessel-forming cells reduced in patients with IBD, but a key factor in IBD progression is the development of abnormal or immature blood vessels, which leads to chronic inflammation.

The cells were injected into fetal sheep at 59 to 65 days gestation. About 11 weeks later, intestinal tissue was analysed to detect the presence of the human cells. The researchers found that the human cells had migrated to the intestine and contributed significantly to the cell population there.

"This study shows that the cells can migrate to and survive in a healthy intestine and have the potential to support vascular health. Our next step will be to determine whether the cells can survive in the 'war' environment of an inflamed intestine," said Almeida-Porada.

The researchers also evaluated the ability of the cells to home to the liver. Smaller numbers of cells reached the liver than the intestine, suggesting that new strategies would be needed to enhance the therapeutic potential for this organ.

The research has been published in the current print issue of the journal Hepatology.

Coronary heart disease is a major cause of death in women. A new study has found that a diet rich in antioxidants
, mainly from fruits and vegetables, can significantly reduce the risk of myocardial infarction. The study is published in the October issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

"Our study was the first to look at the effect of all dietary antioxidants in relation to myocardial infarction," says lead investigator Alicja Wolk, DrMedSci, Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. "Total antioxidant capacity measures in a single value all antioxidants present in diet and the synergistic effects between them."

The study followed 32,561 Swedish women aged 49-83 from September 1997 through December 2007. The women completed a food-frequency questionnaire in which they were asked how often, on average, they consumed each type of food or beverage during the last year. The investigators calculated estimates of total antioxidant capacity from a database that measures the oxygen radical absorption capacity (ORAC) of the most common foods in the United States (no equivalent database of Swedish foods exists). The women were categorized into five groups of total antioxidant capacity of diet.

During the study, 1,114 women suffered a myocardial infarction. Women in the group with the highest total antioxidant capacity had a 20% lower risk, and they consumed almost 7 servings per day of fruit and vegetables, which was nearly 3 times more than the women with the least antioxidant capacity, who on average consumed 2.4 servings.

Dr. Wolk notes that trials testing high doses of antioxidant supplements have failed to see any benefit on coronary heart disease and, in fact, in one study higher all-cause mortality was reported. "In contrast to supplements of single antioxidants, the dietary total antioxidant capacity reflects all present antioxidants, including thousands of compounds, all of them in doses present in our usual diet, and even takes into account their synergistic effects," she explains.

In a commentary accompanying the article, Pamela Powers Hannley, MPH, Managing Editor of TheAmerican Journal of Medicine, observes that with the industrialization of our food supply, Americans began to consume more total calories and more calories from processed food high in fat and sugar. As a result, obesity rates began to climb steadily. "Although weight-loss diets abound in the US, the few which emphasize increasing intake of fruits and vegetables actually may be on the right track," she says. "Yet only 14% of American adults and 9.5% of adolescents eat five or more servings of fruits or vegetables a day."

Scientists have a simple way to battle the agony of arthritis - soaking in a bath of salt water.

They say the saline solution reduces painful inflammation of the joints.

Even ordinary table salt in high concentrations can be used and, unlike conventional drugs, there are no unpleasant side effects.

"This research opens up exciting opportunities. What we've identified has the potential to be used to help so many patients," the Daily Express quoted Vincent Compan, of Manchester University's Faculty of Life Sciences, as saying.

Dr Compan and Dr Pablo Pelegrin found cells in the bodies of arthritis sufferers expand but salt water can reduce the swelling by dehydrating them. The salt worked the same whether it was injected into the body or absorbed through the skin via bandages soaked in saline or bathing.
"We have found that hypotonic solutions (low in salt) strongly activate inflammation at molecular level. Conversely, the use of hypertonic solutions (high in salt) was a potent inhibitor of such inflammatory signals at molecular level," Dr Pelegrin said.

"Therefore, osmotherapy (dehydration) with hypertonic solutions could be beneficial in the management of inflammatory joint diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, either by prolonged soaking or by vapour pressure techniques," he noted.

The results were published in the journal Immunity.