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                             The Cancer Stopper
   
   Dateline: 04/02/98
   
   Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have
   found a potentially potent weapon in the fight against cancer. A sugar
   phosphate, called inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), was found to be
   effective against certain types of liver cancer in mice.
   
   IP6 is a sugar molecule with six phosphates attached. It occurs
   naturally in nature in such diverse things as wheat, rice bran,
   legumes and even in nearly all mammal cells. It helps to regulate
   cellular functions, particularly cell differentiation and
   proliferation.
   
   Scientists took human liver cells that were cancerous, treated them
   with various levels of IP6, and transplanted the treated cells into
   mice. IP6 was found to "check" the growth of the cancerous cells--not
   by destroying the cancer cells but by making the cancerous cells act
   like normal, healthy cells. Inositol hexaphosphate decreases the
   proliferation of the cancer cells, keeping them in "check."
   
   The higher the dose of IP6, the better the results. In the tests, mice
   that had transplanted cells with higher dosages of IP6 developed
   virtually no cancer. Those that had untreated cells developed the
   tumors we would expect from diseased cells.
   
   Some of the mice with tumors present were then tested as a follow-up.
   Injections of IP6 were given to the mice with tumors and, over the
   course of the treatment, the tumors decreased in size, sometimes
   almost five fold less than the size of the tumor at the start of the
   treatment.
   
   Interestingly enough, IP6 binds with several important minerals, like
   copper and zinc. Scientists suggested that taking the "pure" form of
   the substance rather than ingesting large quantities in the diet might
   prove more beneficial in fighting cancer.
   
   Scientists also hope that IP6 could be used in the treatment of other
   diseases and disorders, particularly in the fight against AIDS.
   
   Will IP6 prove to be a potent new weapon against cancer in the future,
   or is this another in the long line of substances that haven't lived
   up to their potential?
   
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