A recent trial conducted by experts from Mötul University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic has shown that a chemical found in the breast milk can help break tumors up into smaller fragments in the body, and then allow cancer patients to pass them through urine.
But scientists have discovered that it can also morph into a different form which can kill tumours, and hope that it could cure patients.
The first results from an early trial involving 40 patients with incurable bladder cancer found that all 20 people who received the real drug instead of placebo in six batches over 22 days removed complete tumor cells through their urine.
In a smaller experiment at the university, under the supervision of scientists at the Swedish University of Lund, nine bladder cancer patients were given five daily doses a week earlier for surgery to remove their tumor.
It was observed that eight of them began to pass tumor cells in their urine only two hours after giving them the medicine, decreased the size of their tumors and pain, and proved that, unlike other chemotherapy methods, there was no damage in the surrounding tissue.
Professor Katharina Svanburg, who discovered that solvents in breast milk kill cancer cells in 1995 while at Lund University, and founder of the Hamlet Pharma Limited Real Estate Testing Company, said she hopes it would be able to break up many types of tumors.
When it unfolds, it changes its function and forms tumoricidal complexes. It has a very exciting dual function depending on the 3D structure
According to Svanborg, “Alpha1H aids in the production of lactose, the milk sugar that is essential for baby nutrition and to make the milk fluid.”
“We have very strong data in mice showing dose-dependent reduction of the tumor, to the point of disappearance. And we have laboratory evidence for effects against many different types of cancer cells and it is therapeutic in animal models of brain tumors and colon cancer as well as bladder cancer.
“The results inspire us to continue the efforts in making Alpha1H available to cancer patients.”
The results involving bladder cancer are especially encouraging. Around 10,000 people in Britain alone are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year and only half of those survive for ten years. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), every year around 56,000 and 18,000 women are diagnosed with bladder cancer in the United States, with about 12,000 men and 5,000 women dying from the disease.
In addition to bladder cancer, in animal trials the drug has been found to kill more than forty different types of cancer cells by promoting the natural process of cell death through what is called apoptosis.
Mats Persson, CEO of Hamlet Pharma Ltd. said of the treatment, “We need more evidence but hopefully this could be the gentle chemotherapy of the future.”
