foodconsumer.org: Iron: the new cancer killer?

Iron: the new cancer killer?
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admin on 04/07/2009 02:13:00
 
Monday April 6, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- According to a study conducted by
scientists of the German Research Center (DFKZ), a new discovery has been made
regarding the effects of iron on cancer cells. High levels of iron released in
lymphoma cells stimulate free oxygen radicals, which ultimately can lead to the
death of the cancer cell entirely.
Of course, it’s not as cut and dried as it seems. Chinese Medicine News is
reporting that German researchers have seemingly discovered a way to “trick”
cancer cells into snuffing themselves out.
Because of their voracious ability to grow and divide, cancer cells need more
energy than do healthy cells. Out of this need, cancerous cells metabolically
run at full throttle.
And herein lies their ultimate demise, when it comes to this potential
treatment. To satiate cancer cells, large amounts of micro-nutrients, such as
iron, are required. By selectively introducing a high volume of iron into the
cells, scientists have stimulated the release of harmful free radicals. The ever
ravenous cancer cell in turn tries to protect itself against said radicals by
inactivating them through a process of binding them to iron storage proteins,
causing oxidative stress.
This oxidative stress damages molecules and genes within the cancer cells,
ultimately inducing their death. DFKZ researchers teamed up with physicians of
the Dermatology Department of Mannheim University Hospitals to study this
process in treating a particularly aggressive form of lymphoma, called
Sezary’s disease. Additionally, they have found that this treatment is also
helpful in fighting other types of lymphomas that are impervious to other forms
of treatment.
Couldn’t this same process destroy healthy cells just as easily as it kills
the cancerous ones? Certainly, but by “selectively” injecting the cells with
the iron, the healthy cells are left unscathed throughout the entire procedure.
(By Rachel Stockton, and edited by Heather Kelley)