Magnolia compound hits elusive target in cancer cells

[Celebration]

http://www.physorg.com/news135061273.html

A natural compound from magnolia cones blocks a pathway for cancer growth that was previously considered "undruggable," researchers have found.

A laboratory led by Jack Arbiser, MD, PhD, at Emory University School of Medicine, has been studying the compound honokiol, found in Japanese and Chinese herbal medicines, since discovering its ability to inhibit tumor growth in mice in 2003.

Arbiser's team's results were published in the July issue of Clinical Cancer Research. The research was a collaboration with the laboratory of David Foster, PhD, at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Hunter graduate students Avalon Garcia and Yang Zheng are the first authors of the paper. The collaboration also involved the lab of Dafna Bar-Sagi at New York University School of Medicine.

"Knowing more about how honokiol works will tell us what kinds of cancer to go after," says Arbiser, who is an associate professor of dermatology. "We found that it is particularly potent against tumors with activated Ras."

[liberalla]

1. Oooh, cool info! There's a plant/natural treatment for everything

Thanks for the link. I have a friend who'll be very interested in this.

[DCKit]

2. Yet there's one plant, in particular, we're not allowed to have.... n/t

[DavidMS]

3. Its just another pharmacologically interesting compound.

From the article its not a magic anti-cancer bullet. It appears to be an interesting way around some types of cancer being chemo-resistant (judging from the article). Even if the compound is safe and effective, it will take a few years for it to be developed and tested. If it works, as described in human cancer patients it would be a force-multiplier for chemo.

I would advise against taking in any kind of "natural" form since molarity and purity are unlikely to be tightly controlled and that could lead to side effects. Most "alternative medicine" is either outright quackery or interesting compounds that need to be tested for safety and effecicy (against established treatments). Its not enough that a treatment works, its enough that a treatment works better/cheaper/with fewer side effects than all others for a patient group.