A relatively new cancer therapy finds humans turning to one of their most feared and least understood enemies in the animal kingdom, the shark. Sharks have an incredibly powerful immune system. Their immune systems not only fight infection, but, it appears, sharks rarely get cancer. Scientists attribute this to the shark's skeletal system, which, unlike that of higher vertebrates like fish and mammals, consists entirely of cartilage and contains no true bony tissue. Cartilage is tissue that contains no blood vessels due to special proteins that inhibit blood vessel formation.
Interest in using shark cartilage as a cancer therapy emerged in part from the pioneering research of Dr. Judah Folkman of Children's Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School. He conducted studies on the relationship between angiogenesis and tumor growth in cancer. In 1987, he hypothesized that solid tumors are dependent on angiogenesis (the system of blood vessels that supply the tumor) and that substances with antiangiogenesis activity might be used in treating cancer. By denying the tumor the opportunity to establish this system, it will not be able to grow beyond the relatively small size of about 1 to 2 millimeters in diameter.
Beginning with work in the early 1970s, research pointed to the use of the cartilage as a non-toxic, non-invasive way to reduce cancerous tumors by attacking them at their capillary roots, thus preventing growth. More recent studies conducted in Cuba, the United States, and Mexico have boosted hopes for the use of cartilage either through injection or oral dosage as a treatment. It may also prove beneficial in treating osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, psoriasis, and eczema.
For years marine biologist Dr. Carl Luer has tried transplanting cancer cells to sharks and has yet to do so successfully. Dr. G. Atassi at the Institut Jules Bordet in Brussels, Belgium, one of Europe's largest and most prestigious cancer research centers, experimented with cartilage powder given orally to mice, and found that it inhibited tumor growth. Dr. I. William Lane, author of Sharks Don't Get Cancer, recognized that it worked on a variety of cancers found in eight terminal patients when administered rectally as a retention enema. Six cases showed significant response and no response in two cases. Other studies continue to show positive results as well.1
The shark plays an important role in maintenance the ocean's ecological balance. Cartilage is gathered from sharks caught in the coastal waters of Central America, primarily near Costa Rica, by local people who consume the meat and throw away the cartilage. A plant in Costa Rica processes the discarded shark cartilage, thus utilizing the majority of the animal.
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