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Cancer-fighting compounds hearten local researchers

Researchers said yesterday that they successfully tested 10 new sugar-fat compounds which they believe will inhibit the growth of cancer with limited side effects while prolonging the lives of patients.

The new compounds were created by a team led by Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), an expert on the structure and function of sugars.

"This is an innovative strategy in cancer treatment. So far, most anti-cancer drugs are associated with side effects like nausea and hair loss," said Alice Yu (陳鈴津), who led a team validating the compounds. "But the new [compounds] are expected to cause few side effects as they are designed to enhance immunity rather than attack cancer cells."

The creations improve on a compound called a-Galcer, which was discovered in Japan in 1995.

At least 10 of the new compounds had proved effective in experiments with mice, Academia Sinica said.

The study showed that lung cancer-bearing mice treated with the new compound enjoyed a significantly prolonged survival time compared with those treated with a-Galcer, the research institute said in a statement.

The Japanese research did not proceed beyond the first phase because while A-Galcer was found to enhance immunity by helping some proteins, it also damaged other proteins, thus suppressing immune functions. Overall, the anti-cancer results were weak.

However, the Taiwanese experiments showed that mice treated with the new compounds for six weeks appeared to be in better health.

In breast cancer-bearing mice, treatment with the new compounds inhibited tumor growth in 75 percent of the subjects, compared with a 50 percent rate of inhibition for tumor growths in mice treated with a-Galcer.

Encouraged by the experiments, Chang Ya-jen (張雅貞), a researcher also involved in the study, said the new compounds could be used to manufacture drugs that would "provide an alternative therapeutic approach" to cancer management.

"They could signal a new ray of hope to cancer patients because such drugs could not only extend their survival time but also improve their quality of life while battling cancer," she said.

The study has been published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Web site.

Yu said it could take up to 10 years to complete clinical experiments that would precede mass production of a new drug.

Academia Sinica has applied for patent rights for the compounds.
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