I'm still very busy, but I hate the thought of anyone going another day without reading about cancer, so here's a link to a fascinating story about seaweed.
Researchers at an international conference on cancer research this week reported on some very early-stage study on the use of seaweed extract in battling NHL. Read the report from Science Daily here.
Apparently, a compound in seaweed called fucoidan (which sounds like a joke name, but it's real) is similar in chemical structure to heparin, an anti-coagulant. The researchers used the fucoidan on NHL cell lines (that is, not in actual people) and it was found to inhibit growth of lymphoma cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected.
The article doesn't go into much detail about why this might be the case, but the researchers seem very positive about the possiblities. They were seen as the conference wearing t-shirts that said "I am so fucoidan excited!"
OK, I made that last part up, but if they manage to get this to a phase 3 clinical trial and it gets eventual FDA approval, I'll buy a t-shirt like that for the first 10 Lympho Bob readers who ask for one.
Researchers at an international conference on cancer research this week reported on some very early-stage study on the use of seaweed extract in battling NHL. Read the report from Science Daily here.
Apparently, a compound in seaweed called fucoidan (which sounds like a joke name, but it's real) is similar in chemical structure to heparin, an anti-coagulant. The researchers used the fucoidan on NHL cell lines (that is, not in actual people) and it was found to inhibit growth of lymphoma cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected.
The article doesn't go into much detail about why this might be the case, but the researchers seem very positive about the possiblities. They were seen as the conference wearing t-shirts that said "I am so fucoidan excited!"
OK, I made that last part up, but if they manage to get this to a phase 3 clinical trial and it gets eventual FDA approval, I'll buy a t-shirt like that for the first 10 Lympho Bob readers who ask for one.
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