New blood cancer therapy with avocados could help

Ingredient of avocado opens new treatment options in acute blood cancer
Avocados may be the key to the development of new treatments for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The research team led by Professor Paul Spagnuolo from the University of Waterloo has isolated an avocado fruit lipid - the avocatin B - and tested its potential applications in the treatment of the particularly aggressive blood cancer AML. Their findings were published in the journal Cancer Research.

To date, treatment for patients with AML has been extremely difficult, and 90 percent of people over the age of 65 will die from this particular form of blood cancer within five years, according to a statement from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The now discovered lipid avocado promise here, however, new treatment options. Avocatin B attaches directly to the root of the disease and fight the leukemia stem cells, the researchers report.

Avocado ingredient could significantly improve the treatment of acute blood cancer. (Image: grounder / fotolia.com)

Avocado active ingredient attacks the damaged stem cells
"The stem cells are actually the cells that drive the disease," explains Professor Spagnuolo. They are largely responsible for the development of AML and the reason why so many patients with leukemia relapse. Here, the active ingredient from the avocados could significantly improve the therapeutic options. Scientists have reportedly conducted many rounds of testing to determine how avocatin B works at the molecular level, demonstrating that targeted leukemia stem cells were attacked while healthy cells remained unharmed. As a drug, the avocado ingredient could significantly increase life expectancy and quality of life for AML patients, the researchers write.

Preparations for clinical trials are ongoing
Avocatin B has not only effectively eliminated the source of AML in the studies, but is also less toxic to the body than other drugs because of its selective, selective action, say Professor Spagnuolo and colleagues ... Now the avocado lipid is in clinical trials continue to be explored. Although avocatin B is still in use for years in oncology, preparations are already under way for a Phase I clinical trial, according to the University of Waterloo. In addition, the researchers see several other uses for avocatin B beyond oncology and the drug is just one of several promising compounds of the avocado. (Fp)