Algae put to work in fight against cancer
By Mark Prigg; The Sunday Times
Copyright 1999 Ottawa Citizen
January 10, 1999
Tests being carried out by the U.S. National Cancer Institute
could prove a
British professor's theory that chemicals found in algae can slow
the growth of
cancer cells and may even kill them.
According to Steve Rowland, a professor of organic
geochemistry at the
University of
Plymouth, initial tests on the chemicals he discovered in the algae
have been
promising.
"A French laboratory has already carried out some
initial tests on a sample of
the algae and found it slowed the progress of lung cancer cells in
a test tube," he says.
Samples of the chemicals found in the algae have now been
sent to the National
Cancer Institute, where they will be tested with dozens of
different types of
cancer cells to see if their effects are widespread.
"If the chemicals are found to affect lots of
different types of cells, then our
aim is to get a pharmaceutical company involved and try to produce
a drug," says Mr. Rowland. He hopes to receive the results of
the tests within 10
weeks.
Mr. Rowland believes the discovery, although promising, is
still at a very
early stage.
"We don't yet know what effect these chemicals have on healthy
tissue, or what
types of cancer they can slow.
All the experiments have been carried out in test tubes. Despite
this, we are
hopeful this could eventually have some benefit for cancer
sufferers."
The new chemicals were discovered by accident, as a result
of academic research
into the composition of mud. Mr. Rowland was looking for clues
about global
climate changes when he
came across the previously unknown class of chemicals.
After further investigation, the team discovered the new
chemicals were common
in mud around the globe, including Antarctica. Six different
chemicals, all
belonging to an entirely new family, were eventually found.
The chemicals are polyunsaturated oils, which Mr.
Rowland believes could hamper their use in medicine.
Eventually, the team discovered a type of algae known as
haslea ostrearira was
responsible for producing the chemicals. They are fairly common
around the
world, but the only people to have cultured the algae successfully
are a group
of French researchers from the University of Nantes. The
same French university also carried out the recent tests on the
algae
chemicals.
"Hopefully this breakthrough now shows what could be
contained in these plants
and will help us get the funding we need to carry on our
research," Mr. Rowland says.
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