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THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1978
Page 7
Cure, not destruction for cells?
United Pres* International
PROVIDENCE, R.I — Hospital
, ogists plan extensive tests on a
the pyJ nfical commonly found m re
ed the ! ch laboratories to determine i it
“turn deadly human cancer cells
normal, unharmfiil ones.
m e chemical is dimethyl tor-
ionToftravel! or DMF l \’ S l ^ S ° l ~
• Shout t t used frequently by organic
^ Daniel Dexter, a researcher
Williams General Hospital
rs oftheiw Pger Williams Lrenerai ttospuai
hnein PoJIassistant professor of niechcme
dian
ramids
r the list, wfojnatic
- “special inte
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anding, univt
ies around
t release from
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seven counl
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ons included
States,
id Ethiopia,
t Germany
n ed was
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n since thel
• e historicc,
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^S: Mesa V(J
Colorado, |
s and othern
culture
•e ninth toll
e aux Meat
ite of thet
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■rica.
ildcityof^
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ment of 15)J
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olution.
i, a natioi
s a inassi|
■n as the t
tat of sevej
said Monday
a “somewhat
effect on human cancer
Cancerous cells treated with
•ian ruins die lrown University,
»."*!’ W F .srL"' y , a “,
DMh and injected into mice did not
grow into tumors, while untreated
cancerous cells almost invariably
caused tumors, Dexter said.
In addition, he said, “very pre
liminary tests with six mice showed
that human tumors died when
treated with DMF.
Dexter said he plans to test DMF
on 50 to 100 cancer-afflicted mice. If
the residts are encouraging, there
will he experiments with rabbits,
dogs and monkeys, followed by
trials on human within three to five
years.
Dexter also confirmed that the
hospital was launching a new prog
ram designed to improve the effec
tiveness of existing anti-cancer
drugs. It will involve a limited
number of human patients.
Surgeons will remove a piece of a
patient’s tumor and try to cultivate
it in a laboratory dish. The tumor,
which can contain up to five kinds of
cancer cells, then will be analyzed
for its contents.
Drugs will then he cus-
tomblended to attack the different
kinds of cancer cells the tumor has,
Dexter said.
fhere is a hitch. Cultivation
techniques are only in their infancy,
Dexter said, and “require a lot of
technical help and a certain amount
of money.” He said they would not
be widely available for at least “a
couple of years. ”
Dr. Paul C. Calabresi, physician-
in-chief and a cancer specialist at
Roger Williams General Hospital,
said Dexter’s results with DMF are
“very interesting. ” But he said that
further testing was essential.
He said the first part of Dexter’s
experiments in which DMF-treated
and non-treated cancer cells were
injected into mice is “significant”
and ready for publication.
Dexter, 38, said his research was
based on a theory cancer cells can
he cured and need not be killed.
He said he believes cancer cells
are “stuck” and unable to mature so
they multiply rapidly instead.
Human cancer cells treated in the
test tube with DMF seemed to ma-
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ture and turn harmless, he said.
Dexter said tests will be run to
see if DMF can be used in conjunc
tion with standard cancer treat
ments. Another chemical, sodium
butyrate, will also be examined.
Castor beans
cancer cure?
United Press International
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A Univer
sity of Kansas biochemist says al
though the castor bean is poisonous
to eat, it may be valuable as a cancer
treatment.
Castor beans, which contain ricin,
an enzyme extemely toxic to all ani
mal cells, may be used to attack only
tumor cells. Professor L. L. Houston
said.
Ricin inhibits the growth of tumor
cells “much more efficiently than it
inhibits growth of normal cells,”
Houston said.
Although ricin is very toxic, the oil
of the bean is not and has long been
used as a laxative, Houston said. He
said ricin is a protein and because
proteins are not soluble in oil, the
toxin is not present in the highly re
fined oil used as a medication.
Houston is studying methods of
altering the ricin molecule so it will
act only on rapidly growing cancer
cells without damaging normal cells.
Ricin is not currently used as a
cancer treatment because it kills a
large number of normal cells along
with cancerous cells.
Ricin acts on the cells by blocking
protein synthesis on the ribosome,
the cell’s protein manufacturing cen
ter, Houston said. Without a supply
of protein, the cell dies.
Houston said researchers are “at
the point where we can design a ricin
molecule to make it more selective
for tumor cells. ” Houston’s research
concerns coupling a ricin molecule
with a tumor.
“We plan to make antibodies to
these tumor-specific antigens and
join ricin molecules to them. An
tibodies localize at tumor sites so we
hope that the ricin will enter the
tumor cells, thereby killing them.”
Halloween early?
Freshman P.E. major Marty Bell isn’t early for trick-or-
treats. He was just “dressing up” for his dorm picture at Hart
Hall. Battalion photo by Paul Barton
Ray to wed in prison
United Press International
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — James
Earl Ray, serving a 99-year prison
term for the assassination of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., will be mar
ried to a free-lance artist within two
weeks in a prison ceremony, a news
paper reported Tuesday.
Ray and Anna Sandhu, a blonde,
32-year-old Knoxville courtroom ar
tist, first saw each other during a
June 1977 preliminary hearing on
escape charges against Ray, the
Knoxville Journal said in a copyrigh
ted story.
Sandhu said she first spoke to Ray,
50, last fall while he was being inter
viewed by television reporters.
Stoney Lane, warden at the
Brushy Mountain Penitentiary near
Petros, said today Ray had told him
nothing about the story.
“I don’t know a thing about it.
Lane said.
If Ray and Sandhu apply for per
mission to be married, the ceremony
will take place in Brushy Mountain’s
visitor’s room.
“He’d be right back in his cell after
it’s over. There would be no honey
moon,” Lane said. He added that
Ray and his prospective bride would
not he allowed a conjugal visit.
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