HEALTH IN BRIEF
UNM cancer study on drug promising
Clinical trials conducted at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center have shown that patients with a rare, sometimes deadly immune disorder mastocytosis, improved when treated with the new drug midostaurin.
Dr. Tracy George, an expert in mastocytosis pathology, became involved in an international clinical trial using the drug when she and colleague Dr. Jason Gotlib were doing research at Stanford University. George brought the clinical trial to UNM when she joined the Pathology department and Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2013.
Mast cells are normal cells that effect the body’s allergic and inflammatory responses. People with mast cell disease have a superabundance of the cells, which are abnormal. The most deadly variation of the disease is called mast cell leukemia. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration has approved only one drug, imatinib to treat this form of mastocytosis. But people with the most serious form of mastocytosis have not responded well to imatinib, according to George.
Tests treating patients with midostaurin, which was being evaluated for a different form of leukemia, have shown promise, according to George.
Research on using midostaurin with patients who have different varieties of mastocytosis is continuing.
Benefits unknown on fermented foods
The jury’s still out on whether fermented foods carry any health benefits. In recent years, claims of possible health benefits of fermented dairy or plant foods, such as yogurt, kefir, aged cheese, tempeh, miso, sauerkraut and many others, have gained the spotlight.
The digestive tract is loaded with beneficial bacteria. Likewise, live, active bacteria make fermented foods possible. These bacteria, known as probiotics, are where the potential health benefits in fermented food may be.
While it sounds promising, the evidence is more suggestive than proved. Some evidence supports select probiotic use for certain bowel disorders. Research is ongoing to understand how probiotics may influence other areas of health, including obesity and regulation of the immune system.
To gain benefits, it’s generally thought that a daily probiotic dose of around 10 billion colony-forming units of certain bacteria strains is needed. However, fermented foods are all over the map in terms of the dose and type of beneficial bacteria. Some fermented foods contain supplemental probiotics to achieve a consistently high
dose. Others might contain only moderate or low levels of live cultures — or no live cultures at all.