Cartilage shark

Progress has been periodically updated and also discounted (e.g., Shark Therapy by Catherine Dold in the April 1996 issue of Discover, and Holistic Medicine by Susan Crabtree in the September-October 1996 issue of The National limes, first published in Insight.) Oncologist Charles Simone, formerly with NCI and now located in New Jersey, was supported by the then OfQce of Alternative Medicine (0AM) of the NIH to check the efficacy of shark cartilage. (Simone once treated Ronald Reagan and Hubert Humphrey for cancer, using nutritional therapy.) As suspected, sharks may become an endangered species, maybe to no avail. 

There is a persisting rumor that the Plains Indians know more about a mysterious, secretive, and potent formulation, which (for lack of a better term) can be referred to as Compound-X or CompoundX. This is supposed to cure cancers, externally and internally, no question about it, and no questions asked. It is presumably some kind of a fast-acting herbal mixture, and it is rumored that a pharmaceutical company once obtained the rights to the formula. But now, there is a difficulty in its availability. If the Plains Indians know about it, however, one can assume that all tribes are aware of it, north to south and east to west, being a part of the mystical connection. But all this information is hearsay, and therefore suspect. Nevertheless, the speculation is reinforced that there indeed may be a magic bullet for cancer out there.  

Further inquiry reveals that some of the original work on Compound-X was carried out in the early 1980s by Professor Frank Stermitz of the chemistry department at Colorado State University and by others in veterinary science, including Dr. Kenneth Larson. The substance was tested on animals, apparently unsuccessfully. However, John Heinerman mentioned in it Healing Animals with Herbs, published in 1977. Again, it should be reminded that what works or does not work on animals, may or may not work for humans and vice versa. Also, the response in individual humans will vary. 

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Shark cartilage 3 tablets by mouth daily Enteric-coated aspirin 81 mg by mouth daily Ginseng 2 tablets by mouth daily... 

Polysiloxanes are widely employed as biomaterials. Artificial skin can be fabricated from a bilayer fabricated from a cross-linked mixture of bovine hide, collagen, and chondroitin sulfate derived from shark cartilage with a thin top layer of polysiloxane. The polysiloxane acts as a moisture and oxygen-permeable support and protects the lower layer from the outer world. A number of drug delivery systems use polysiloxanes because of the flexibility and porous nature of the material. 

AE-94 INeoretna (shark cartilage extract) marine shark, Chondrich.,... 

Sheu JR, et al. (1998) Effect of U-995, a potent shark cartilage-derived angiogenesis inhibitor, on anti-angiogenesis and anti-tumor activities. Anticancer Res 18(6A) 4435-4441... 

Dupont E, Savard PE, Jourdain C, Juneau C, Thibodeau A, Ross N, et al. Antiangiogenic properties of a novel shark cartilage extract Potential role in the treatment of psoriasis. J Cutan Med Surg 1998 2 146-152. 

Lipid nutritional supplements have been in use before the term nutraceutical was coined. Products such as fish oils, shark cartilage, shark liver oil, and vitamins have been in the market since the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of the health claims of these products lacked strict scientific documentation in the past, and their curative properties were mostly anecdotal. However, today there is a better understanding of the biological properties of lipids and their application has extended to combined pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields such as disease prevention and treatment, excipients and coadjuvants, frawi-dermal carriers, and skin emolliency agents. This has led to the development of bioactive cosmetic and pharmaceutical products whose name has recently been coined as cosmeceuticals. 

Shark cartilage powder, prepared from cartilage from the fins of hammerhead sharks (Sphyma lewini) or spiny dogfish Squabis acanthias), is promoted as a treatment for arthritis and cancer (43), based on antiangiogenic properties, but crude extracts are ineffective (44), presumably because the active constituents, such as sphjmastatins are not absorbed. 

A 38-year-old white man worked in a factory that ground shark cartilage (45). After 10 months of exposure, he reported chest symptoms at work in association with exposure to shark cartilage dust, and a physician diagnosed... 

Symptomatic hypercalcemia has been reported in patients taking shark cartilage supplements (46). 

There has been one report of hepatitis associated with the use of a shark cartilage product (47). 

Occupational asthma has been attributed to shark cartilage dust (48). 

Markman M. Shark cartilage the Laetrile of the 1990s. Cleve Clin J Med 1996 63(3) 179-80. 

Ostrander GK, Cheng KC, Wolf JC, Wolfe Ml. Shark cartilage, cancer and the growing threat of pseudoscience. Cancer Res 2004 64(23) 8485-91. 

Ortega HG, Kreiss K, Schill DP, Weissman DN. Fatal asthma from powdering shark cartilage and review of fatal occupational asthma literature. Am J Ind Med 2002 42(l) 50-4. 

Lagman R, Walsh D. Dangerous nutrition Calcium, vitamin D, and shark cartilage nutritional supplements and cancer-related hypercalcemia. Support Care Cancer 2003 ll(4) 232-5. 

Ashar B, Vargo E. Shark cartilage-induced hepatitis. Ann Intern Med 1996 125(9) 780-1. 

San-Juan S, Garces M, Caballero ML, Monzon S, Moneo I. Occupational asthma caused by shark cartilage dust. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2004 114(5) 1227-8. 

Many over-the-counter treatments are herbal supplements popularized by the recent trend toward all things natural. In a grocery or department store, a shopper can buy a vast array of different herbal supplements, all reported to have some healing property or nutritional value. Ginseng, echinacea, ginger root, flaxseed oil, lavender oil, and shark cartilage are all examples of the things one can find, each with a different function that supposedly makes life better. 

Aside from its use as a flavoring, licorice root can be found in some herbal supplements, usually those touted for their antiinflammatory effects. One product, for example, contains licorice root and several other "natural" substances such as shark cartilage, and is promoted to meet the complex nutritional needs of the musculoskeletal system. Another product utilizing licorice in combination with other herbal components claims to increase production of digestive juices, thereby reducing gas, cramping, bloating, upset stomach, heartburn, and nausea. 

Thus, attention can be drawn to such therapies as megadoses of vitamin C, Essiac tea, shark cartilage, and elimination of parasitic invaders. More will be further described in the subsequent sections. We particularly recall the works of Ralph W. Moss (1992, 1998), Cancer Therapy The Independent Consumer s Guide to Non-Toxic Treatment and Prevention and Herbs against Cancer History and Controversy, both of which furnish the pros and cons. 

In the aforementioned and other references, treatments are discussed using everything from megadoses of vitamin C through herbal remedies to shark cartilage to radiotherapy. The following is a brief review and overview of further information about a few of these therapies, many of which are plant derived. Most are described in the previously mentioned reference sources. 

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