alienation news

An old cancer cure?

Chinese folk medicine has yielded a promising new approach for treating cancer. Using a dash of logic and modern lab techniques, Seattle scientists have shown that a compound extracted from the wormwood plant seeks out and destroys breast cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unscathed.
In experiments, the compound killed within 16 hours virtually all human breast cancer cells exposed to it in the test tube, reports Dr. Henry Lai, a bioengineering researcher at the University of Washington. Just as importantly, he says, nearly all of the normal cells exposed to it were still alive. "And a dog with a type of bone cancer known as osteosarcoma so severe that it couldn't walk across the room made a complete recovery within five days of receiving the treatment. X-rays showed the animal's tumor "had basically disappeared," says Lai, adding that he believes the dog is still alive two years later.