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A NOVEL CANCER THERAPY
1. SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH CURRENT THERAPIES
There are two serious problems with current cancer therapies. The first is severe side effects and toxicity. The second is very limited efficacy. Consequently, cancer is still the second leading cause of death in the United States and some other parts of the world.
1-1. Severe Side Effects and Toxicity
The majority of current therapeutic agents for cancer, in both cytotoxic and noncytotoxic categories, are chemicals foreign to the human body. As a result, the body tries extremely hard to get rid of them using whatever metabolic ways available. Since our body does not have a natural and safe way of metabolizing those foreign chemicals, some nonspecific oxidation reactions then are used as major means of metabolism. The consequence is that the elimination processes unavoidably generate a lot of chemically active intermediates or radicals, which will assault also normal cellular substances including, but not limited to, that of immune system's in the body, leading to serious side effects, toxicity, weakened immune system, and the induction of new types of cancer. Since most of these agents were designed by humans, not the nature, they have very high chances to bind to and interact with other cellular factors (including, but not limited to, receptors, enzymes, other proteins) than their expected targets in the body. These "off-target" bindings and interactions account for significant opportunities for side effects.
1-2. Limited Effectiveness
The effectiveness of cytotoxic agents for cancer therapy is mainly limited by their indiscriminate toxicity to normal cells and tissues including, but not limited to, that of immune system's. The weakened immune system, as expected, makes it impossible to launch an organized assault on cancer cells. The cytotoxic agents, therefore, cannot be administered too frequently or for too long. The dosing level of those agents cannot be raised further to effectively fight cancers as one may wish due to their toxicity to normal tissues. The efficacy of noncytotoxic agents, which target specific functions important for the survival of cancer cells, is limited by their single mechanism based strategy. An important hallmark of cancer, however, is their constant genetic changes or mutations. Once a cancer cell changes into a state that it is no longer dependent on a specific function a therapeutic agent targets for survival, the efficacy of the agent will then be lost immediately.
2. A NEW PROMISING CANCER THERAPY
The situation thus calls for the emergence of a novel therapeutic agent that can assault cancers with multiple combating capabilities for sustained potency, help immune system at the same time to organize an orchestrated attack on cancers and clean up individual cancer cells for a possible cancer eradication, and limit the chance of "off-target" interaction and metabolize itself safely for low side effect(s).
2-1. A Newly Discovered Natural Hormone for the Ah Receptor
We have discovered a new natural hormone named ITE, short for 2-(1'H-indole-3'-carbonyl)-thiazole-4-carboxylic acid methyl ester, which is a physiological or endogenous ligand for a receptor named Ah (aryl hydrocarbon) receptor. The Ah receptor is a ligand inducible transcription factor medicating an important array of biological and pharmacological processes. The newly discovered Ah receptor endogenous ligand ITE is capable of satisfying the stringent requirements for a novel therapeutic agent set forth above.
2-2. The Natural Hormone Has Multiple Capabilities
ITE may possess multiple capabilities of cancer combating as listed:
Cancers cannot grow further beyond 1 to 2 mm in diameter without newly generated blood vessels to supply nutrients with oxygen and remove wastes. Thus, ITE will be very effective in combating cancers by choking them off the blood supply, a technique called anti-angiogenesis. However, the hormone ITE does not simply stop here. ITE may inhibit cell division. Since cancer is resulted from uncontrolled cell division, ITE then may be able to stop the progression of cancers. ITE may also promote programmed cell death (apoptosis) of cancer cells. ITE may have the ability to induce cell differentiation. When cancer cells differentiate, they stop being cancer cells and therefore stop reproducing but may start dying. Additionally, ITE may be able to block actions of estrogen and androgen. Certain breast and prostate cancers are dependent on estrogen and androgen, respectively, for their sustained advancement. This capability of ITE can thus further enhance the therapy for the estrogen dependent breast cancer and androgen dependent prostate cancer. ITE can also block the migration of cancer cells (or cancer metastasis), an important process leading to organ failure and then death of patients eventually. Recently, the Ah receptor was reported to be able to stimulate immune systems by enhancing the differentiation of Th17 cells. ITE may then be able to coax an immune system to attack and clean up cancer cells to achieve cancer eradication.
2-3. Multiple Fighting Strategies Make the Cancer Therapy Sustainable
The multiple strategy backed cancer combating capability makes the ITE therapy truly unique and outstanding. The multiplicity of combating strategy is crucial in maintaining its high therapeutic potency over cancers in constant genetic change. That means we can hold cancer under control for much longer time than any other available therapies. When we can hold cancer under control for longer enough time while keep assaulting it and sending death signals to it at the same time, the cancer may eventually die off. In addition, once the immune system can also participate the attacking and cleaning up of individual cancer cells, cancer eradication will then be a possibility. Therefore, the multiplicity of the assaulting strategy makes therapeutic potency of ITE sustainable. The sustainability of the potency then makes the eradication of cancers finally a possibility.
2-4. The Natural Hormone May Offer Therapeutic Specificity
Another important issue in cancer therapy is that it is highly desirable for a therapeutic agent specifically working on cancer cells instead of normal cells. This type of specificity can be achieved if there are more target molecules the agent binds in cancer cells than in normal cells. The target molecule for ITE hormone is a cellular protein named Ah (aryl hydrocarbon) receptor (AhR). In the literature, the Ah receptor was reportedly to be highly concentrated in pancreatic cancer tissues from 14 out of 15 patients but very diluted in all normal pancreatic tissues examined. Similarly, the concentrated Ah receptor is also documented with prostate, lung, ovarian, and gastric cancers. This means that the therapeutic specificity of ITE could be achieved at least in these reported types of cancers.
2-5. The Natural Hormone Is Expected to Be Low in Side Effect(s)
Contrary to those chemicals (used in current therapies in the market) foreign to human body, ITE is a natural hormone produced by the human body, so the nature has designed and implemented a natural and safe way for its metabolism. Its metabolic process thus will cause less or even no problem to the body. This means that it will be very low in side effect(s). Another important reason for possible low side effect is that the binding of the natural hormone to its receptor (the Ah receptor) is very specific and precise since it is designed and manufactured by the nature. The hormone ITE, other than those human designed chemicals, will then have low chance of binding to other proteins or molecules to provoke "off-target" problems. Low side effect(s) of ITE therapy, in turn, can be interpreted as a possibility of further raising its dosing levels to further enhance its potency. It can also be translated into a possibility of more frequent and prolonged administration, paving the way for eventual cancer eradication, an extra goal of ours.
2-6. Oral Administration Is a High Possibility
The hormone ITE is a small organic compound with a molecular weight of 286 Dalton. It can be fairly easily synthesized and formulated for oral administration, the most convenient route for our patients.
3. THE SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION
Please review the science behind the therapeutic capabilities of this new natural hormone by clicking the Scientific Foundation.
4. FURTHER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
We are actively conducting the pre-clinical animal studies in the development of ITE cancer therapy. Please visit our product development page for what we have been doing and what progress we have made lately.
Please contact us if you have any question, comment, or suggestion. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
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