Irish/Italian Leukemia Cure

by Jean Henry Mead

The Emerald Isle has been known for many things, including whiskey, the Blarney stone, poetry and literature. But this week, the online news magazine, Irish Central, announced that researchers at Dublin’s Trinity College, along with colleagues in Belfast and Sienna, Italy, teamed up to develop a cure for a common strain of Leukemia.

The research project, funded by the Irish Cancer Society, has proven that Pyrrolo-1.5-benzoxazepine-15 (PBOX-15) kills previously resistant strains of leukemia. Researchers in Dublin’s neighboring city of Cork also announced that curry can kill esophageal cancer cells, a fact known for years by doctors practicing alternative medicine in this country, much of which is outlawed.

Professor Mark Lawler of the Trinity School of Medicine in Dublin said, “This important discovery is the result of a truly collaborative approach, involving researchers across the different disciplines of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular medicine at TCD, together with our colleagues in Sienna and Belfast. The complimentary expertise allowed us to approach the problem of killing CLL cells from a number of angles.”

Lawler also said that the PBOX-15 drug kills resistant cancer cells by breaking them down and killing them when they become resistant to fludarbine, a chemical most often used to fight leukemia.

John McCormick, head of Ireland’s Cancer Society, said his organization "is proud to have funded this high quality research. The society is the largest voluntary funder of cancer research in Ireland and one of our objectives is to fund researchers that will ultimately develop new and better treatments for cancer patients. . . These findings now need to be brought from the laboratory to the bedside so they will ultimately benefit patients with this common form of leukemia.”

Meanwhile, at the University of Cork, researchers revealed that turmeric, the spice used to make curry, has molecules that kill esophageal cancer cells. They also announced that the chemical curcumin, which is found in turmeric, starts destroying throat cancer cells within the first 24 hours of treatment. Their findings were published recently in the British Journal of Cancer.

Nearly 17,000 cases of esophageal cancer will have been diagnosed in the U.S. by the end of this year and some 14,530 victims will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. The number of cases is Ireland averages 350.

Because I’ve lost four members of my immediate family to cancer, I’ve done considerable research of my own. Exercise and deep breathing exercises retard the growth of cancer cells while sugar feeds them. Three cups of green tea daily help to prevent cancer growth as does regular meals containing broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower. Half a cup of low fat cottage cheese as well as daily doses of wheat germ and flax seed sprinkled on cereal or salads have also been known to reduce or prevent cancer cell growth. Blueberries, raspberries and alkaline based drinking water, as opposed to acidic, have also been reported as cancer preventers.

The chemotherapy patient survival rate has been reported variously from 9-20% in this country, so those diagnosed with the disease should do copious research of their own to complement standard methods of treatment.