FIGHTING CANCER WITH A COMMON VITAMIN
Fighting cancer with a common vitamin
Byline: By John Ryan Staff Writer
Cancer, the malicious invader of the human body, kills thousands every year.
Those statistics may someday be altered by a common vitamin that would make cancer the target of destruction.
Marc Farris, Washington State University associate professor of pharmacy, was awarded a 10-year, $500,000 grant from the Gasper and Irene Lazzara Charitable Foundation to study how vitamin E derivatives, especially succinate, could both prevent and treat cancer.
The study will examine how vitamin E succinate attacks and destroys tumors. This could revolutionize how cancer is fought.
If the treatment works in humans, it would be less harsh than traditional chemotherapy, which wipes out the patient's immune system.
Because Farris has 10 years to work on the project, which is longer than typical grants, it will allow him and his team breathing room.
"It gives us more time to focus on the study instead of writing grants. In a three-year grant, you have to spend nearly half the time applying or re-applying. That was time that could be spent treating cancer," said Farris.
Vitamin E succinate is not the vitamin E found in multivitamins. It is a derivative found in nature. However, taking succinate like a vitamin supplement would not help people fight cancer.
The problem with vitamin E comes when ingested orally. The cancer-fighting properties of the vitamin are stripped and it becomes useless to fight tumors. Once the research team finds the connection between cancer and vitamin E, they will look for a way to send the vitamin directly to the tumor without losing anything in the process.
Years ago, Farris found, almost by accident, that vitamin E succinate helped preserve normal cells while attacking cancer cells. By studying how normal cells are obliterated by cancer, he found some cultures had no cancer cells while all the normal cells were still healthy. Like previous researchers in the 1970s, Farris found that vitamin E derivatives halt and even eliminate cancer cells.
One of the main culprits in creating cancer are oxygen free radicals. Acting like rust on the cells of the body, the oxygen free radicals break down the cell structure, providing the groundwork for cancer, as well as a newly-theorized concept of how we age.
"There's a new theory that links the oxygen free radicals attacking and destroying cell proteins, DNA and lipids," said Farris. "The breakdowns might be the reason why we break down when we age."
Farris and his team can study how much vitamin E succinate is needed in different tissues before the cancer would be removed.
Armed with strains of different cancers, he and his team will start unlocking the riddle of cancer. Cancer cells are immortal, according to Farris. They can be kept in storage forever and drawn out when needed, unlike normal human cells which have a short shelf life.
Paired with a similar National Institute of Health grant, the $500,000 grant gives Farris and his team ample resources to seek out and halt cancer. Farris is the first recipient of the Lazzara professorship.
For Farris, his research is fueled by the specter of cancer which has touched the lives of loved ones.
"We are trying to improve human health," said Farris, who also teaches toxicology at WSU. "Hopefully, the compounds we use can treat and even stop cancer. This is what drives my intensity in this program.
"Also, there are a lot of toxic agents that we are exposed to on a daily basis. Again, what comes out of our research could mean protection."
Reporter - Agriculture, Health Care
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