A Chinese prostate cancer researcher says that a compound in
ginger and curry powder could bring a glimmer of hope to patients
suffering from Kennedy's disease, a debilitating neurode generative
condition that only affects men.
The compound, known as ASC-J9 and found in curcumin -- the
bright yellow spice in curry powder -- dramatically slowed the
progression of the disease in mice that carried the mutant human
gene that causes the disease, Dr. Yang Zhiming of China's Zhejiang
University told Xinhua on Friday.
The tests, conducted by Yang and a research team under Prof.
Chawnshang Chang at the University of Rochester Medical Center,
involved 60 pairs of mice, each pair consisting of one treated and
one untreated mouse.
"The mice that were treated with ASC-J9 were more mobile than
their untreated counterparts," said Yang. "They walked better and
dragged their legs less often; their muscles appeared to work
better and they lived 40 percent longer than the untreated
mice."
The tests also proved that the mice treated were able to mate
and produce offspring, while their untreated partners could not, he
said.
While a great deal more research needs to be done to see if the
compound could be developed into a drug to help Kennedy's disease
sufferers, Dr. Yang says it is a promising development in a field
where progress has been slow.
"It will take several years to develop ASC-J9 into a drug for
clinical use, but if successful, it will provide the first ever
cure for Kennedy's disease," he said.
Kennedy's disease, also known as spinal and bulbar muscular
atrophy, attacks one out of 40,000 people. Symptoms typically
include difficulty in speaking and swallowing, and weakness in the
arms and legs. Patients are often diagnosed in their 30s and 40s,
and many end up using a wheelchair.
Yang, 35, was the first author of the study, which appeared in
the March edition of the journal Nature Medicine. He earned his
doctorate under Prof. Chawnshang Chang, a prostate cancer expert at
the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Prof. Chang found earlier that pungent food, including onions
and garlic, may cut men's risk of prostate cancer by half.
Ginger is widely used in China as a folk medicine to treat male
baldness and promote perspiration to fight cold.
In the past decade, western medicine has tested curry, finding
that the spice can help fight breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease
and the blisters that come after radiation treatment for
cancer.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2007)