The Sharks Potential in the Cure for Human Cancer Essay -- Fish Illnes

The Sharks Potential in the Cure for Human Cancer Thumbing through the pages of Business Week, the headline read Maybe Jaws Can Put the Bite on Cancer. Interested, I continued to read the short article. According to the reporter, Otis Port, researchers at California State University in Fresno say that they have isolated four substances in shark cartilage that appear to inhibit cancer (93). Curious, I continued to read the rest of the article. The chemicals block a mechanism discovered in the mid-1980s at Harvard University: Tumor cells secrete a protein called angiogenin that entices blood vessels to grow close to cancers and nourish them. The shark extracts counteract angiogenin and the tumor starves (93). I sat there pondering the concept and decided that I would further investigate this intoxicating find. Physiology of the Shark The Immune System It is obvious that the sharks and rays of the ocean have existed for a tremendous length of time, 450 million years to be exact. They have survived without dying from bacterial infections, diseases or viruses. This may be because their immune system has changed minutely over those 450 million years. It seems that cartilaginous fish have four different classes of immunoglobulin and that shark antibodies lack the specificity that permits recognition of the subtle differences between two similar types of bacteria (Litman, 68). Sharks antibodies lack the capacity to bind more strongly to an antigen during the course of a prolonged immune response, which has been determined to be an advantage in fighting infection (Litman, 68). Some would think that this inhibits the shark from being able to fight off anything. However, this ancient immune system benefits the shark wholeheartedl... ...he big question is, how far do we push it and are we going to exterminate the main killing machine of the watery ecosystem with the quest for our own survival? It remains a mystery. Bibliography Altman, Lawrence K. à ¬Shark Substance Found to Limit Tumor Growth.à ® New York Times 1 May 1996: A15. Beardsley, Tim. à ¬Sharks Do Get Cancer.à ® Scientific American October 1994: 24-25. Hooper, Judith. à ¬Unconventional Cancer Treatments.à ® Omni February- March 1993: 59-62. Lane, Dr. I. William, and Linda Comac. Sharks Donà ­t Get Cancer. Garden City Park: Avery Publishing Group Inc., 1992. Litman, Gary W. à ¬Sharks and the Origin of Vertebrate Immunity.à ® Scientific American November 1996: 67-71. Mestel, Rosie. à ¬Sharksà ­ Healing Powers.à ® Natural History September 1996: 40-47. Ports, Otis. à ¬Maybe Jaws Can Put the Bite on Cancer.à ® Business Week 21 November 1994:93. The Sharks Potential in the Cure for Human Cancer Essay -- Fish Illnes The Sharks Potential in the Cure for Human Cancer Thumbing through the pages of Business Week, the headline read Maybe Jaws Can Put the Bite on Cancer. Interested, I continued to read the short article. According to the reporter, Otis Port, researchers at California State University in Fresno say that they have isolated four substances in shark cartilage that appear to inhibit cancer (93). Curious, I continued to read the rest of the article. The chemicals block a mechanism discovered in the mid-1980s at Harvard University: Tumor cells secrete a protein called angiogenin that entices blood vessels to grow close to cancers and nourish them. The shark extracts counteract angiogenin and the tumor starves (93). I sat there pondering the concept and decided that I would further investigate this intoxicating find. Physiology of the Shark The Immune System It is obvious that the sharks and rays of the ocean have existed for a tremendous length of time, 450 million years to be exact. They have survived without dying from bacterial infections, diseases or viruses. This may be because their immune system has changed minutely over those 450 million years. It seems that cartilaginous fish have four different classes of immunoglobulin and that shark antibodies lack the specificity that permits recognition of the subtle differences between two similar types of bacteria (Litman, 68). Sharks antibodies lack the capacity to bind more strongly to an antigen during the course of a prolonged immune response, which has been determined to be an advantage in fighting infection (Litman, 68). Some would think that this inhibits the shark from being able to fight off anything. However, this ancient immune system benefits the shark wholeheartedl... ...he big question is, how far do we push it and are we going to exterminate the main killing machine of the watery ecosystem with the quest for our own survival? It remains a mystery. Bibliography Altman, Lawrence K. à ¬Shark Substance Found to Limit Tumor Growth.à ® New York Times 1 May 1996: A15. Beardsley, Tim. à ¬Sharks Do Get Cancer.à ® Scientific American October 1994: 24-25. Hooper, Judith. à ¬Unconventional Cancer Treatments.à ® Omni February- March 1993: 59-62. Lane, Dr. I. William, and Linda Comac. Sharks Donà ­t Get Cancer. Garden City Park: Avery Publishing Group Inc., 1992. Litman, Gary W. à ¬Sharks and the Origin of Vertebrate Immunity.à ® Scientific American November 1996: 67-71. Mestel, Rosie. à ¬Sharksà ­ Healing Powers.à ® Natural History September 1996: 40-47. Ports, Otis. à ¬Maybe Jaws Can Put the Bite on Cancer.à ® Business Week 21 November 1994:93.