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Glycoproteins
& Medicinal mushrooms
THE SECOND IN OUR THREE PART BACK-TO-BASICS SERIES
Four
Nobel Prizes for Medicine in recent years (1994, 1999, 2000
and 2001) have been won with research on how cells communicate,
and its importance to our health & wellbeing.
Whilst
one of them was specifically concerned with the brain and
how nerve cells communicate through chemicals with each
other (Arvid Carlsson et al 2000), the other three were
concerned with communications to cells around the body and
all had implications for cancer prevention and treatment.
In
1994 Gilman and Rodbell won for their discovery of "G
- proteins and their role in signal transduction in cells".
Basically they investigated how Iocalised cells handle signal
substances from glands, nerves and other tissues to make
changes.
In
1999 Gunter BlöbeI and his team looked at how proteins
have specific protein signals built into them so that they
reach the correct destinations.
And
by 2001 Hartwell, Hunt and Nurse had won for showing an
understanding of the cellular messages involved in the cell
cycle -its growth and division into two identical daughter
cells - and how mistakes might result in a cancer development.
These
protein messages often involve carbohydrate molecules, or
sugars, and so a generic term glycoproteins is the word
coined for this hot topic.
A
simple explanation
Several
aspects of glycoproteins are important.
Blöbel
sought to understand a genetic mystery. When your DNA string
is read and the code says you should have blue eyes or blond
hair, how does the message get to the right place?
As
a foetus in the womb, each of us started out with a fused
cell from our parents that multiplied at an incredibly rapid
rate. But around day 42-46 something (largely thought to
be a message from the pancreas) tells these cells, called
stem cells, to turn into eye cells or hair cells, and to
stop dividing so rapidly and instead to adopt a normal cell
cycle.
The
interest for cancer scientists is that cancer cells resemble
stem cells and do not seem to have received the signal to
differentiate. Blöbel found that the messages sent
out contained little "postcodes" directing the
message to the intended cells. Furthermore he discovered
that these signals contain the ability to go through the
cell membrane and so influence the mechanism of the cell
inside
Cell
membranes - barriers to health'
Cell
membranes, like all tissue, are largely made up of fats
or lipids, protein and carbohydrate. If you think of each
molecule as a pin, with a pinhead, alternately pointing
in opposite directions but in a neat line, you will have
a picture of a healthy membrane. Messages can thus slip
in between the pins. It is the role of glycoproteins to
encourage this "neatness" and thus allow the messages
through.
The
problem comes when the pins are not in this neat format
and are fused or at various angles, not allowing anything
through. Worse sometimes modest amounts of carbohydrate
are bonded to the membranes. Where tumour cells have this
carbohydrate, it is used to bind to other cells and cause
them to turn rogue too, hence causing metastasis. Killer
cells in your immune system look out for these carbohydrate-bonded
sites.
Blöbel's
work focused on what happens when there are errors in the
signals, while Hartwell et al focused on what happens when
the cell cycle goes haywire.
What
this means to you and me
The
need for healthy signalling and message flow has led to
a focus on glycoproteins. Professor Gilbon-Garber has shown,
for example, that the invasive process of bacteria, viruses
and indeed cancer cells which involves the above "bonding"
process to membranes, can be inhibited by glycoproteins
in mother's milk.
Because
these molecules (from mother's milk, saliva and semen) used
in her experiments are all-natural, no side effects occurred.
This
has important implications. "Drugs" could be built
on natural substances, with no side effects.
So
where can I get them?
A
number of naturally occurring substances have already been
identified as having high glycoprotein content. Not surprisingly
one was medicinal mushrooms. Reishi, maitake, cordyceps
and oyster mushrooms all have beta-glucan polysaccharide.
Cancer Research UK reported recently that Japanese mushroom
pickers have half the cancer rates of the rest of the population.
(They obviously scrump!).
Other
natural sources of these essential sugars are:
aloe
vera, brans - slow cooked oatmeal, whole barley, brown
rice, pectins - apples and citrus fruit eaten whole,
breast milk, arabinogalactins - found in wheat, leeks,
carrots, radishes, pears, red wine, coconut, meat, tomatoes,
curcumin and echinacea, corn, psyllium, garlic.
The
interesting factor is the universality of the discovery.
All cells seem to positively respond to glycoproteins, whether
they are human, yeast, plants or animals.
Even
tiny amounts of these sugars - or lack of them - have a
profound effect.
One
integrated cancer expert we spoke to said that glycoproteins
would be more important than all discoveries like vitamin
C, B17 and genistein added together!
However,
it is worth noting that you should ensure you incorporate
the above foods into your diet. Despite all the Nobel Prizes,
any supplements for glycoproteins are unlikely to be on
the new EU approved lists, as the directive now stands!
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