Brocolli's Cancer fighting properties

Researchers already knew that a chemical found in broccoli, cauliflower, and related vegetables, called isothiocyanate, appeared to stop the growth of cancer by causing apoptosis, or cell death, in cancer cells. But researchers didn't know why.

Recent research at Georgetown University found that isothiocyanate sticks to a defective protein found in cancerous cells.

The broccoli-born chemical only binds to the protein when it is defective. The normal version is left alone.

Production of the protein in question is controlled by the gene p53. It normally helps stop a cell from replicating uncontrollably. But when gene p53 is mutated, the protein comes out defective.

Not only that, cells with mutated p53 genes are also more resistant to chemical cancer treatments.
P53 mutations occur in half of all human cancers, including lung, breast and colon.

Eating your broccoli may help reduce cancer risks because the presence of isothiocyanate was observed to increase the death rate of cancer cells with the p53 mutation.

Researchers found that after the cauliflower chemical, isothiocyanate, bound to the defective p53 protein, breast cancer cells died. One reason for this may be that the mutated gene also makes the cancerous cells vulnerable to toxic effects from isothiocyanate that normal cells are resistant to.

Drug-trial cancer patients recover: Magic Bullet found! Ipilimumab

Two men with advanced and inoperable prostate cancer have staged dramatic recoveries after being treated with an experimental antibody drug.

Both are now cancer-free and have returned to normal life after they took part in a trial of a drug called ipilimumab that boosts the immune system.

Before treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, US, each of them had aggressive tumours that had grown well beyond the prostate gland into abdominal areas.

Trial leader Dr Eugene Kwon said: "The goal of the study was to see if we could modestly improve upon current treatments for advanced prostate cancer.

"The candidates for this study were people who didn't have a lot of other options. However, we were startled to see responses that far exceeded any of our expectations."

First, the patients received traditional hormone therapy to remove testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer. Researchers then introduced a single dose of ipilimumab. The drug is an antibody which builds on the hormone therapy and boosts the immune system's response to the cancer.

Both patients saw their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels drop to the point where they became eligible for surgery. PSA is a protein in the blood that allows doctors to monitor prostate cancer.

When the surgeons made their incisions, they had a surprise. Mayo clinic urologist Dr Michael Blute said: "The tumours had shrunk dramatically. I had never seen anything like this before. I had a hard time finding the cancer. At one point the pathologist asked if we were sending him samples from the same patient."

Further research is now planned to understand more about the mechanisms of the antibody and how best to use it on patients, but Dr Kwon added: "This is one of the holy grails of prostate cancer research. We've been looking for this for years."