4
I DETROIT I
Dr. Hopes To Prevent
Cancer Spread
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
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Zip
or years, everyone
from health-food
fanatics to renowned
physicians has touted the
benefits of eating fruit.
Now a local researcher is
suggesting that pectin, a
natural sweetener found in
fruits, may hold the key to
limiting cancer growth as
well.
Dr. Avraham Raz, of the
Michigan Cancer Founda-
tion (MCF), is chief of a new
study showing that citrus
pectin, in a modified form,
prevents cancer cells from
binding and creating secon-
dary tumors in animals. It
marks the first time a
natural, sugar-containing
product has been identified
as possible treatment for
cancer likely to metastasize,
or spread.
A native of Israel, Dr. Raz
came from the Weizman In-
stitute in 1987 to the MCF.
His work with citrus pectin
will be featured in upcoming
issues of Omni and Preven-
tion magazines.
Its ability to metastasize is
one of the most devastating
aspects of cancer, Dr. Raz
said.
Some cancers, especially
skin cancers, tend to localize
and often can be removed
through surgery, he said.
But colon and breast
cancers, for example, are
likely to spread — and to do
so rapidly. So a mastectomy
would not necessarily con-
tain the disease, which in
the case of breast cancer
usually spreads to the lungs
and bones.
"If we can stop the
spreading, we are halfway to
the cure," said Dr. Raz, who
also was with the National
Institutes of Health in the
late 1970s.
Dr. Raz's work focused on
the process of the cancer's
spread. He compared
growths that are malignant,
which metastasize, and
those that are benign, which
do not spread. It was exac-
ting work of "subtle, quan-
titative changes, which
makes this type of analysis
extremely difficult," he said.
Cancer cells do not cir-
culate as singles but as
multi-cell aggregates, or
"cell clubs," Dr. Raz said. By
studying the formation of
such aggregates, he hoped to
discover how they could be
contained.
Dr. Raz was able to iden-
Dr. Avraham Raz: "If we can stop
the spread, we are halfway to the
cure."
tify a molecule on the cancer
cell that clings to car- ,
bohydrates in other cells, -
subsequently forming an
aggregate and allowing the
cancer to grow. He decided to E) ,
introduce an outside
substance that would bind to
the molecule in the cancer
cell, to prevent its attach-
ment to carbohydrates
other, healthy cells, ana.- -
thus inhibit the creation of <=, I
aggregates. It was then Dr.
Raz had the idea of using
citrus pectin.
With the citrus pectin, Dr.
Raz said, he was able to
completely inhibit the
growth of cancer cells in the
lungs of mice. Now the ques-
tion is, will it work in
humans?
Standing in an office lit-
tered with slides and paper
and research articles — "but
this is organized," its owner
insists — Dr. Raz said he
hopes his study will be
finalized in about a year.
Dr. Raz and his team must
first complete their research
— such as showing that the
citrus pectin has no side
effects — before clinical,:
trials on humans can begin.
A major difference bet-
ween the citrus pectin and
other, conventional methods
of cancer treatment lies in
the fact that pectin is a
natural substance not
detrimental to healthy cells.
Most current methods of
treatment are based on kill-
ing the cancer cell, Dr. Raz
said. Yet the treatment also
can attack healthy cells,'
which is why so many c,
undergoing cancer treat-
ment experience adverse
effects.
Dr. Raz believes the citrus
pectin could be useful in
fighting several types of
cancer.