That is the title of a FASCINATING article by CNN’s senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, about an experiment involving a few very sick dogs and a compound–also a drug–called rapamycin, discovered in the dirt of Easter Island (it’s a bacterial by-product…yum yum!) and mainly intended for humans with cancer and transplant patients. The article is so full of twists and turns that I am not even going to try writing a synopsis…Here is the link: goo.gl/Tdsis8
But I do have a few comments, as always. Ah yes, rapamycin is being studied in myeloma treatment, too…A number of clinical trials testing rapamycin, and its analogs, such as temsirolimus, on MM patients are going on right now, in fact.
It’s a strong immune suppressor, and it’s also a mTOR inhibitor (like quercetin, I would like to add). I mentioned rapamycin years ago in my quercetin post, which you can find by using the blog’s Search box on the upper right. In fact, if you type mTOR into the above-mentioned Search box, you will also come upon my mTOR-rhubarb post. Hey, I’d forgotten about rhubarb…!!!
At this point you might be wondering what mTOR is. Well, quoting from my 2007 quercetin post, it’s “a really nasty pathway involved with myeloma disease progression. When mTOR is activated, you see, MM cell lines resist being killed.” Bad, bad, bad.
I haven’t done any followup research on this topic, but you can bet your basket of ripe bananas that I am going to have another look at PubMed. And a look at those MM patient trials, too. Very interesting…
Sorry if I sound a bit hurried, if not a bit on the rambling side!!!, but it’s getting late over here, and I must go feed the cats and get dinner started. I’m suddenly STARVING! So…off I go! Ciao! Oh, MANY thanks to Stan for letting me know about this article, btw! 🙂
mTOR is not “bad”. It is simply a nutrient -sensing pathway. It is neither bad nor good. Over-simplification of mTOR may lead one to think you want it shut off all the time. Although damping down mTOR may have benefits for some conditions, mTOR is necessary for tissue healing and regeneration.
Absolutely. But I was writing about its role in cancer, which is not a positive one. Also, please keep in mind that I often use a bit of “poetic license” in my writing… 🙂
As a driver of cancer, increased mTOR is not desirable. Many studies showing that protein especially animal protein and it’s amino acids such as leucine are powerful drivers of mTOR as well as IGF-1.
Interesting studies on cancer cells not being able to thrive when methionine is removed. So it seems that even though cancer cells utilize glucose it is the amino acids from protein that makes them thrive.
My Jack Russell started having “fits” about a year ago. He would freeze-up and not be able to walk – just stood there shivering in absolute panic. I think this may be hydrocephaly. These episodes became almost weekly so we started him on about 200mg of curcumin per day (taken with an omega oil that he loves). The curcumin is the lipidated form from Indena. Now, after about four months of treatment, he has not had a another episode. We have now reduced the curcumin to about 3 times a week. He just turned 11 and is as healthy and lively as he was as a puppy.
following up with amino acids and cancer this is quite interesting https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-diet-change-help-treat-blood-cancer-or-transplant-patients/?WT.mc_id=SA_FB_HLTH_NEWS