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Accidental fungus leads to promising cancer drug


  3. VSiskos
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"A drug developed using nanotechnology and a fungus that contaminated a lab experiment may be broadly effective against a range of cancers, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday."
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"Lodamin is an angiogenesis inhibitor that Folkman's team has been working to perfect for 20 years. Writing in the journal Nature Biotechnology, his colleagues say they developed a formulation that works as a pill, without side-effects."
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""I had never expected such a strong effect on these aggressive tumor models," she said. The researchers believe lodamin may also be useful in other diseases marked by abnormal blood vessel growth, such as age-related macular degeneration."

There are so many breakthroughs with cancer it seems, and yet it never seems to do anything. Let's hope this is one of many actual cures to come!
VSiskos

30 responses // Accidental fungus leads to promising cancer drug

  • wow thats awesome. but at the same time this product has probably been around for years. and since its a lab in the U.S. they must have been laging it on this.

    and of course it has to be in a pill form. the gov't wants us to be on pills, sorry just read something on chipings kids so im super peranoid about the U.S. gov't

    i think its possible that we [the human race] is getting cancer because of the chemicals put on to our foods! chemicals such as pesticides

    but anyways i hope they do find a cure and then we'll have a different diesease to die from.
    bip13
  • watch this comment being used here, here, here and here
    I was pondering this the other day, I was thinking about how incredibly fast fungus grows and how many unkown properties it has, there's nothing else like it found in nature..I bet we've only begun to unlock it's potential...
    pirho338
  • this is no doubt a brake through in medical science.

    finally, something good.
    rubicon777
  • I am a bit suspicious about the "without side-effects" remark. How many prescription drugs do you know of that do not have ANY side-effects?
    dsm198
    3 responses to this
  • Another fungus among us. Check with her sister Penni...
    In the parts of the country not dealing with drought have noticed an increase in fungi. Check it out, could save your life some day!
    macdontcare
  • Some of the best discoveries were by "accident"
    1percent
  • They also discovered LSD and teflon like this.
    Dmitri_Molotov
  • watch this comment being used here and here
    Let there be more fungusamongus! Fungus is amazing 'stuff'!.
    patsarts
  • This is an exciting time in the field of cancer research; on top of this promising development is another process which has been shown to cure aggressive tumors in mice, and is currently in the early stage of human trials.

    We should recognise the tireless efforts of the talented men and women who are fighting this terrible condition with innovative research.
    rwylie
  • This is proof in and of itself that accidents are the only way we progress. Humans learn from mistakes.
    recommended by  Adumbration
    Adumbration
    1 response to this
  • How cool!
    Blazesboy
  • how amazing, and kudoes to the reseachers.
    blue7272
  • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
    So much money and effort to find the cure, and so little money and effort to find the cause. Sadly, cancer-causing ingredients are in most of the products we use everyday.

    "In a speech to the Industrial Designers Society of America, which is meeting at the Marriott Wardman Park through Saturday, McDonough noted that in California, the $2.99 bath toy comes with a warning. Toxic chemicals in that sweet, squishy body have been known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm."
    sustainablejohn
    3 responses to this
  • Always Fantastic. History seems to repeat self. The discovery of penicillin is attributed to Scottish scientist Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928
    Fleming recounted later that the date of his breakthrough was on the morning of Tuesday, September 28, 1928.[2] At his laboratory in the basement of St. Mary's Hospital in London (now part of Imperial College), Fleming noticed a halo of inhibition of bacterial growth around a contaminant blue-green mold Staphylococcus plate culture. Fleming concluded that the mold was releasing a substance that was inhibiting bacterial growth and lysing the bacteria. He grew a pure culture of the mold and discovered that it was a Penicillium mold, now known to be Penicillium notatum.
    Auddy
  • cancer sucks
    oly90808
  • Penicillin, kevlar, etc. Awesome life saving discoveries made by scientists doing something else.

    We should just stop trying... (bad attitude, counter intuative... but it works...)
    handshakeheartbreak
  • You look for one thing and something else on your way.
    Purdey
  • I can only hope that one day cancer will be obliterated form society. The saddest thing in this world is to see a child suffering through fighting back. A sweet innocent that must endure needles and medication that makes them throw up the little food that they could just barely choke down. Becoming so weak that they are taken for rides in these little wagons Watching parents try their best to be strong for their child, while inside they are dying and would change places with their child in an instance. Cancer needs to go the way of the pox...gone!
    cibalin
  • There are many natural cures that are being studied for cancer treatment that are not being given to the public because the pharm companies can't make money off of it! If they think this is too expensive to make then it wont be done either. There is a study going on at Utah Med Center studying Creosote a plant that Native Americans have always used to treat illness, horrible tasting stuff. Thanks to a Native American Professor, I am still here because he shared it with me! Doctors have seen people cured of tumors they said were inoperable within months the cancer was gone completely. The drug companies know it works, but they can't convert it into pill form, so instead of telling people go into the desert and pick this plant, they are not sharing the info. It has powerful antioxidants in it that do make you feel incredible, most importantly they heal your body. I would be so happy if they found a cure, but beware those who say NO SIDE EFFECTS!
    dcrc9596
  • There is the side of me that rejoices in this type of news, and then there is the cynical me who thinks "so what, by the time the marketing departments of the pharmaceutical companies are done establishing pricing policies for the new discovery, it will be out of reach of most people."
    AnaMireles
  • Some of our greatest discoveries come from accidental coincidences. One day, some scientist is going to slap his forehead and say, "Of course! It's so simple! Why didn't I think of that?"
    Because you're a drunk Steve....because you're a drunk.
    Neghie
  • Something to remember about cancer is it cannot be completely eliminated. Cancer is a result of mutations in living cells. Just like accidental fungi, mutations are the reason for all current and future life on this planet. Nature makes mistakes too. The cancer we speak of is often the result of poor diet, environmental toxins, and stress. I never speak lightly of cancer. I reside in a part of the country with one of the first superfund sites. Remember those! I have lost many family and friends to cancer. Like mosquitoes, we should never try to eliminate any one thing in nature. It creates imbalances from which we can never return.
    macdontcare
  • The article tells us Dr. Judah Folkman has been working to perfect this experiment for the past 20 years. Why are we just learning about it now?
    vitalmaggi

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