EU Funding for Ocean Remedies for Cancer
European Union funding is helping to find cancer treatments for certain deadly tumours using small marine animals. European researchers are using chemical agents extracted from a type of Caribbean sea squirt, named Ecteinascidia turbinata, to treat some tumours. The breakthrough findings will soon be published in the Marine Drugs journal. The project on A novel marine pharmaceutical with unique mechanism of action for the treatment of cancer, has helped to establish trials in 24 EU centres across seven European countries.
The project, involving Dutch, French and Spanish participants, aims to test the chemicals in treating sarcomas, a rare tumour that kills about 3,900 Europeans a year. Although sarcomas respond to chemotherapy, which shrinks the tumours growth, a cure has not yet been found. But the discovery of the alkaloid chemical, Ecteinascidin-743 (ET-743), is a breakthrough for medical science. The chemical is used as a chemotherapeutic agent and has shown promising results in patients where other treatments have failed. It has enormous potential for treating a range of cancers, such as breast cancer.
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