• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Thursday, March 4, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Combining Eastern medicine with Western to improve cancer therapy

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
November 4, 2020
in Chemistry
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Can ancient Chinese herbs cure chemotherapy-related diarrhea?

IMAGE

Credit: University of Houston

University of Houston professor of pharmaceutics Ming Hu is developing and testing an ancient Chinese herbal medicine formula, first described in 280 A.D., to improve cancer therapy. Hu believes Xiao-Chai-Hu Tang (XCHT) can protect people on the chemotherapy drug Irinotecan from a deadly side effect: Severe-delayed-onset diarrhea (SDOD).

“The clinical use of Irinotecan is severely limited by the severe diarrhea that results in poor quality of life, hospitalization and even death,” said Hu, who is also the Diana S-L. Chow Endowed Professor of Drug Discovery and Development at UH.

“Our goal with XCHT is to allow more people to benefit from the treatment by Irinotecan, which is often the drug of last resort for late stage or metastatic cancer patients.”

Hu and colleagues Romi Ghose, associate professor of pharmaceutics at UH and Song Gao of Texas Southern University, have been awarded $996,162 from the National Cancer Institute to investigate the effectiveness of the ancient formula. They will also work with Lijun Zhu of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine in China to determine the agent’s effectiveness in a clinical trial.

To be sure, Irinotecan is a powerful weapon against cancer, but many of those who take it develop SDOD, likely caused by SN-38, the active metabolite of the drug. In the intestine, SN-38 can damage intestinal cells and affect their renewal.

“Intestinal cells have UGT enzymes that detoxify SN-38, but we found that SN-38 can also inactivate and reduce UGT enzymes in the intestine. This creates a vicious cycle. Approximately 1-in-5 patients will fall into this vicious cycle, leading to discontinuation of therapy, decreased efficacy or even death,” said Hu. He has shown that XCHT protects the UGT enzymes and reduces severe diarrhea, and with the new grant he will develop it further, for testing and approvals.

XCHT is actively used in China, Japan and Korea for liver protection. This is the first instance where it has been shown to protect the intestine from SN-38, making the UGT enzymes more resistant to the impact of SN-38.

“Our long-term goal is to develop experimental therapeutics and/or nutritional supplemental approaches to reduce SDOD, so patients can sustain their chemotherapy,” said Hu.

###

Media Contact
Laurie Fickman
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.uh.edu/news-events/stories/2020/november-2020/11042020-ming-hu-ancient-chinese-herb-chemotherapy-side-effect.php

Tags: Alternative MedicineBreast CancercancerCarcinogensGastroenterologyInternal MedicineMedicine/HealthPharmaceutical ChemistryPharmaceutical ScienceProstate Cancer
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

IMAGE

New microcomb could help discover exoplanets and detect diseases

March 4, 2021
IMAGE

Purdue Research Foundation partners with IdentifySensors Biologics for COVID-19 technology

March 4, 2021

Nature: new compound for male contraceptive pill

March 3, 2021

Conquering the timing jitters

March 3, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    Terahertz accelerates beyond 5G towards 6G

    665 shares
    Share 266 Tweet 166
  • People living with HIV face premature heart disease and barriers to care

    83 shares
    Share 33 Tweet 21
  • Global analysis suggests COVID-19 is seasonal

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10
  • HIV: an innovative therapeutic breakthrough to optimize the immune system

    36 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

Cell BiologyTechnology/Engineering/Computer SciencePublic HealthEcology/EnvironmentInfectious/Emerging DiseasescancerBiologyMedicine/HealthClimate ChangeGeneticsMaterialsChemistry/Physics/Materials Sciences

Recent Posts

  • Research contributes to understanding of hypersonic flow
  • New microcomb could help discover exoplanets and detect diseases
  • Purdue Research Foundation partners with IdentifySensors Biologics for COVID-19 technology
  • Air pollution fell sharply during lockdown
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In