Experts from the Shanghai Institute of Hematology at Ruijin
Hospital announced they have found a Chinese herb which can target
cancer cells without damaging healthy cells in leukemia
treatment.
The institute signed a cooperation deal with Jiangsu Province Hengrui Pharmaceutical Co.
over the weekend for further clinical tests and production of
oridonin, a natural diterpeniod extracted from medical herbs, which
can be used to treat acute myelocytic leukemia, the most serious
variant.
About 60 to 70 percent of patients with this type of leukemia
have a re-occurrence or develop a drug resistance after receiving
chemotherapy for one year. Moreover, a long-term chemotherapy is
expensive and risky.
Experts said both basic research and animal tests have confirmed
that oridonin can inhibit the growth of cancerous cells without
destroying the healthy ones.
The institute has been involved in developing leukemia
treatment, which just targets the cancerous cells without damaging
the healthy ones, based on cellular and molecular research and gene
technology for years.
Traditionally, chemical and radiation therapies are the most
commonly used treatments for leukemia and other cancers, but they
kill both cancerous cells and healthy cells.
(Shanghai Daily?October 29, 2007)