Shark Cartilage May Not Prevent Cancer 32375

Shark Cartilage May Not Prevent Cancer

SAN FRANCISCO--The American Association of Cancer Research conference met here andpresented research that suggests sharks do get cancer, and shark cartilage should not berecommended as a dietary supplement for cancer prevention. Shark cartilage supplementswere first recommended by I. William Lane, the biochemist who wrote the popular 1993 book SharksDon't Get Cancer. He had found that out of 7,500 shark records catalogued by theSmithsonian, only 30 sharks had had tumors.

"That's a very low rate of cancer compared to other fish and humans," Lanesaid.

Co-presenters Gary Ostrander of Johns Hopkins University and John Harshbarger ofWashington University School of Medicine reported they found 40 cases of cancer in sharks.They also cited research from the November 1998 issue of The Journal of Clinical Oncologysuggesting that shark cartilage extracts were ineffective as cancer therapies in humans."There may someday be evidence that substances from shark cartilage have benefits inpreventing or treating cancer," Ostrander said, "but ingesting powders of thestuff to date has not been shown to have any benefit."

The federal government is planning two major trials in human subjects with sharkcartilage-based products. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Center ofComplementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) are planning to test the drug in May with750 lung cancer patients at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study will consist of twogroups using chemotherapy and radiation. One group will be given a shark cartilage drugand the other will be
given a placebo.

The second trial, scheduled to begin later this year, will be sponsored by the NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH) and Lane Labs, a company founded by Lane's son. BeneFin, ashark cartilage extract, will be tested on 600 terminally ill breast and colon cancerpatients at the Mayo Clinic. For additional information about these studies, visit www.jco.org andnccam.nih.gov/nccam/fi/concepts/ce/shark.html.