[MPWG] Researchers Blend Folk Treatment, High Tech for Promising Anti ...

Wed Feb 9 09:47:02 CST 2005

What's happening to the process of science here in this country?

This press release is unfortunately all too typical of announcements of
findings coming from our heretofore respected scientific institutions these
days.  The following part contains a serious distortion of truth, if not an
outright lie:

"The wormwood extract was used centuries
ago in China, but the treatment became lost over time. In the 1970s, it
was rediscovered as part of an ancient manuscript containing medical
remedies, including a recipe that used a wormwood extract. The medical
community soon discovered that the extract, artemisinin, worked well
against malaria, and it is currently used for that purpose throughout
Asia and Africa."

Sure, artemisinin is the hot new compound for a lot of drug (or gold)
prospectors.  What is objectionable (and anti-scientific because it
ignores previous research) is the need to manufacture a back-story so as to
present the findings as news, as if the "medical community" alone have
suddenly discovered value!  But of course that justifies their subsequent
cashing in.  The "folklore" spin is a standard ruse to conceal sources of
knowledge.

The truth is that qing-hao (Artemisia annua) has been known since before
recorded history as a Heat-clearing herb.  It was first mentioned in the
Shen Nong Ben Cao (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica) over two thousand years
ago.  (Which book has been translated into English, so there's no excuse.)
Qing-hao was and is widely recognized as an important component of formulas
for malaria, cancer and many other Heat-related disorders.  The inherited
scholarship is both voluminous and sophisticated, and should be respectfully
cited in any research presentation.

An aside to plant conservators.  Unfortunately, we now have
paradigmatically-challenged individuals running loose around the U.S.
proposing that farmers grow several hundred acres of Artemisia annua at a
pop, so that artemisinin can be extracted, made into a drug product and sold
to the Africans.  This is pure craziness on several levels, one of which is
that Artemisia annua, like other Artemisias, is potentially a noxious weed
in certain areas.  I also question the wisdom of exposing farm workers to
large quantities of material.

I wonder why none of these people want to interest a few Africans in growing
Artemisia annua in a diversified operation with other herbs useful for a
malaria formula, and working with local native healers to provide
efficacious, cost-effective
healthcare?

Jean Giblette, Director
HIGH FALLS GARDENS
Box 125 Philmont NY 12565 USA
518-672-7365
hfg at capital.net

----- Original Message -----
From: Sonya <msredsonya at earthlink.net>
To: <MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 3:23 AM
Subject: [MPWG] Researchers Blend Folk Treatment,High Tech for Promising
Anti ...

> *Researchers* Blend Folk Treatment, High Tech for Promising Anti *...*
> <http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/509720/>
> Newswise (press release) - USA
> Newswise -- *Researchers* at the University of Washington have blended
> the past with the present in the fight against cancer, synthesizing a
> promising new *...
>
> http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/509720/
>
>
> Source: University of Washington Released: Tue 08-Feb-2005, 16:10 ET
> Researchers Blend Folk Treatment, High Tech for Promising Anti-cancer
> Compound
>
>
> Newswise — Researchers at the University of Washington have blended the
> past with the present in the fight against cancer, synthesizing a
> promising new compound from an ancient Chinese remedy that uses cancer
> cells' rapacious appetite for iron to make them a target.
>
> The substance, artemisinin, is derived from the wormwood plant and has
> been used in China since ancient times to treat malaria. Earlier work by
> Henry Lai and Narendra Singh, both UW bioengineers, indicated that
> artemisinin alone could selectively kill cancer cells while leaving
> normal cells unharmed.
>
> The new compound appears to vastly improve that deadly selectivity,
> according to a new study that appeared in a recent issue of the journal
> Life Sciences. In addition to Lai and Singh, co-authors include Tomikazu
> Sasaki and Archna Messay, both UW chemists.
>
> "By itself, artemisinin is about 100 times more selective in killing
> cancer cells as opposed to normal cells," Lai said. "In this study, the
> new artemisinin compound was 34,000 times more potent in killing the
> cancer cells as opposed to their normal cousins. So the tagging process
> appears to have greatly increased the potency of artemisinin’s
> cancer-killing properties."
>
> The compound has been licensed to Chongqing Holley Holdings and Holley
> Pharmaceuticals, its U.S. subsidiary, to be developed for possible use
> in humans. Although the compound is promising, officials say, potential
> use for people is still years away.
>
> In the study, researchers exposed human leukemia cells and white blood
> cells to the compound. While the leukemia cells quickly died, the white
> blood cells remained essentially unharmed.
>
> The trick to the compound's effectiveness, according to Lai, appears to
> be in taking advantage of how cancer cells function.
>
> Because they multiply so rapidly, most cancer cells need more iron than
> normal cells to replicate DNA. To facilitate that, cancer cells have
> inlets on their surface, known as transferrin receptors, in greater
> numbers than other cells. Those receptors allow quick transport into the
> cell of transferrin, an iron-carrying protein found in blood.
>
> In creating the compound, researchers bound artemisinin to transferrin
> at the molecular level. The combination of the two ingredients appears
> to fool the cancer cell.
>
> "We call it a Trojan horse because the cancer cell recognizes
> transferrin as a natural, harmless protein," Lai said. "So the cell
> picks up the compound without knowing that a bomb – artemisinin – is
> hidden inside."
>
> Once inside the cell, the artemisinin reacts with the iron, spawning
> highly reactive chemicals called "free radicals." The free radicals
> attack other molecules and the cell membrane, breaking it apart and
> killing the cell.
>
> According to Lai, that process is what initially piqued his interest in
> artemisinin about 10 years ago. The wormwood extract was used centuries
> ago in China, but the treatment became lost over time. In the 1970s, it
> was rediscovered as part of an ancient manuscript containing medical
> remedies, including a recipe that used a wormwood extract. The medical
> community soon discovered that the extract, artemisinin, worked well
> against malaria, and it is currently used for that purpose throughout
> Asia and Africa.
>
> Artemisinin combats malaria because the malaria parasite collects high
> iron concentrations as it metabolizes hemoglobin in the blood. As
> science began to understand how artemisinin functioned, Lai said, he
> began to wonder if the process had implications for cancer treatment.
>
> "I started thinking that maybe we could use this knowledge to
> selectively target cancer cells," he said. "So far, the outlook appears
> good."
>
> The next step in development under the Holley licensing agreement will
> likely be testing in animals and, if that pans out, human trials to
> gauge the compound's effectiveness. The current study was funded by the
> Artemisinin Research Foundation and Chongqing Holley Holdings.
>
>
> The article is available on-line at
> http://www.sciencedirect.com/science. Click the "journals" button and
> look under Life Sciences, Volume 76, Issue 11. The article is No. 9 on
> the Web page (page 1267-1279).
>
>
>
>
> *
>
> --
> Sonya     PLoS Medicine
> The open-access general medical journal from the Public Library of Science
> Inaugural issue: Autumn 2004   Share your discoveries with the world.
> http://www.plosmedicine.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> MPWG mailing list
> MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
>
http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/mpwg_lists.plantconserva
tion.org
>
> To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to MPWG-request at lists.plantconservation.org
with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
>
> Disclaimer
> Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc.
reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The
information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a
substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific medical
condition or question. All medical and other healthcare information that is
discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by the individual reader
and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts do not reflect any
official opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation Alliance.
>