HOUMA (AP) -- Oysters contain fat compounds called ceramides and researchers at LSU say the substance could help treat and prevent cancer.
Ceramides are found in oysters, plants, and other animals and they are being used in clinical trials to speed the healing process in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Jack Losso, a researcher in the LSU AgCenter Department of Food Science, said the results have been exciting.
"When we looked at cancer cells treated with ceramides, their growth had been inhibited, and they were dying," Losso said.
Losso said his research has found that ceramides in oysters can restrict blood-vessel growth and development of breast-cancer cells in test tubes and the blood vessels in rats.
By preventing the formation of blood vessels, the substance keeps cancer cells from multiplying because they can't grow without nutrients from the blood.
In lab rats treated with oyster ceramides, blood-vessel growth that simulates cancer-cell growth and proliferation was reduced by 57% in seven days. No toxicity to the animals was reported. Although the rats received concentrated ceramide injections, the compound can just as easily be taken orally in pill form, Losso said.
Conceivably, an oyster-rich diet could aid in cancer prevention, he said.
"You could eat the oysters raw or cooked," Losso said. "But you can't grill them with those popular countertop grills that discard the fat. The ceramide is in the oil, which is lost when you use a tilted grill."
Losso collects ceramide from oysters by blending the shellfish's meat and extracting the lipid, or fat compound, with an organic solvent — the same one used to extract oil from corn and soybeans. After the oil is extracted, the ceramide is removed and concentrated.
Losso said the process is particularly effective because the solvent is accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as generally safe.
"Ceramide is a novel way of treating cancer cells," said Losso, who pointed out that the compound is also found in other marine animals, including bivalves, jellyfish, abalone and menhaden. Most ceramide now used is synthetic, based on cows' milk, Losso said.
"It's similar to that found in oysters but with a different structure," he said.
Losso's work is funded through the Louisiana Sea Grant college program and the LSU AgCenter.
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