[tri-med] FYI - Study: Breast Milk Compound Kills Warts

      OK this one isn't strictly tri related but I thought it was interesting. 
And having suffered from warts on my fingers when I was younger and trying 
every known remedy - finding a lactating mum would have been one of the easy 
ones...............

      Study: Breast Milk Compound Kills Warts 
      June 24, 2004 
      (The Associated Press) -- A compound in breast milk has been found to 
destroy many skin warts, raising hopes it might also prove effective against 
cervical cancer and other lethal diseases caused by the same virus. 

      Skin warts are caused by the human papilloma virus, which is extremely 
widespread. Swedish researchers found that when the breast-milk compound -- 
since named HAMLET -- is applied to the skin, it kills virally infected cells 
in warts resistant to conventional treatments. 

      "This may have relevance for the treatment of cervical cancer," because 
virally infected and cancer cells are similar, said lead researcher Dr. 
Catharina Svanborg, professor of clinical immunology at Lund University in 
Lund, Sweden. 

      The researchers hope to start small-scale testing of the compound soon on 
women with cervical cancer. 

      "Any long-term potential for any devastating diseases is very speculative 
at this stage" but should be followed up, said Catherine Laughlin, chief of the 
virology branch in the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 

      There are 130 known types of the human papilloma virus. Nearly all cases 
of cervical cancer are caused by two sexually transmitted types. Other types 
cause skin and genital warts, squamous cell skin cancer and lesions in the 
throat that are deadly in rare cases. 

      Many people carry the virus in skin cells, but it does not always cause 
disease. 

      Doctors knew breast milk contained a natural antibiotic. But its 
potential against viruses and tumors was discovered by accident. 

      Svanborg's team was testing ways to fight what is called bacterial 
superinfection -- bacteria infecting cells already infected by a virus. They 
applied a protein in mother's milk called alpha-lactalbumin to double-infected 
lung cancer cells. 

      To the researchers' surprise, the cancer cells as well as the bacteria 
inside them were killed. That was because the milk protein had changed its 
configuration, bound to another milk component called oleic acid, and created 
the more powerful HAMLET compound. 

      The research team then tested the compound against warts on patients' 
hands and painful ones on their feet, called plantar warts. The warts shrank by 
at least 75 percent over the first three weeks the compound was applied to the 
skin. And at least three-quarters of the warts disappeared after a second 
treatment. 

      The researchers dubbed the compound HAMLET, an acronym for human 
alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells, partly because of their proximity 
to the scene of the Shakespeare play, which took place in Denmark. 

      The research was reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. 

      "Any agent that can be topically applied and absorbs well into cancerous 
or precancerous cells has great potential," said Dr. Frank Murphy, chief of 
dermatology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J. 

      Murphy noted that the compound probably would be much more expensive than 
standard treatments for warts, about half of which go away on their own within 
two years. The standard treatments for getting rid of warts include burning, 
freezing, laser removal and various topical solutions. 

      Dr. Karl Beutner, associate clinical professor of dermatology at 
University of California-San Francisco, said a drug that destroys skin warts 
also should work against papilloma lesions in the throat, but not necessarily 
against cervical cancer. 

      Svanborg said if HAMLET proves useful against serious diseases, the 
compound would probably be synthesized in the lab instead of being extracted 
from breast milk. 

      Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
     

                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
                       www.trisomyonline.org
                  Families Helping Families On-line

Other related posts: