We know medical marijuana has the power to help some cancer patients deal with nausea, now researchers believe mushrooms may help cancer patients.
While “shrooms” were a popular drug in the 60s and 70s, this new theory isn’t meant to conger up psychedelic dreams.
How it works
Researchers at Georgia Health Sciences University Cancer Center took a protein from a poisonous mushroom, found in Southwest China, and coupled it with a current cancer-fighting drug. The problem with this current drug called, TRAIL, is people eventually build up immunity to it and it no longer destroys cancer cells.
“It looks as though most cancer cells have found a way to become resistant and evade its action,” said Dr. Wendy Bollag, cell physiologist at GHSU and a study co-author.
However, this new research shows the mushroom’s protein keeps that immunity from accruing.
“If we can make drugs work again, more people will survive,” Dr. Kebin Liu, cancer immunologist at the Georgia Health Sciences University Cancer Center said. “We believe this could be a good companion drug for a lot of cancer therapies,” Liu said.
A bump in the road
Researchers are working on mice currently and found that a high dose of the mushroom protein made the mice sick. This is often the case of many cancer treatments, however, the research shows the protein is still effective in a lower easier-to-handle dose.
The studies effect on the future
Their studies were of metastatic human colon cancer cells, which are highly resistant to treatment, including TRAIL, both in culture as well as transplanted into mice. They did similar studies on sarcoma, breast cancer, lung cancer.
Additional toxicity studies are needed before moving forward with clinical trials, Bollag said. The researchers also want to pursue the compound’s potential in melanoma and pancreatic cancer.
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