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Prevention
Avemar's ability to inhibit cancer-formation significantly inhibited the formation of azoxymethane-induced colon tumours in F344 rats, further proof of its chemo-preventive effect.
Azoxymethane, a carcinogenic agent, induces the formation of colon tumors in 4-week old inbred F344 rats. Four treatment groups comprised of 10 animals each were formed as follows: Group 1: untreated controls; Group 2: azoxymethane ad-ministered s.c.; Group 3: Avemar treatment started two weeks prior to the first injection of azoxymethane, with treatment continuing for 32 weeks; Group 4: Avemar administered without azoxymethane.
At the end of the 32-week-long experimental period, the germin-ation of the tumor cells was examined comparing the per-centage of the animals that developed colon cancer in each group (=Value-1) and the number of tumor foci in each animal (as an average projected for the whole group = Value-2). The results were: Group 1: 0%; 0; Group 2: 83.0%; 2.3; Group 3: 44.8%; 1,3. Group 4: 0%; 0.
The difference in both the percentage and number of cancerous foci/per animal was significant between Groups 2 and 3 (p<0.001 and p<0.004, respectively).
When the diameters of the tumor in animals in the groups treated with azoxymethane alone and those treated with the combination of Avemar and azoxymethane were compared, the difference was noted to be markedly significant (p<0.0001), in favour of the group treated with both com-pounds. To summarise, Avemar caused a marked and signi-ficant decrease (70%) in the number of malignant colon tumors which developed in test animals induced with the carcinogen azoxymethane [15].
The above-mentioned results in experimental colon tumors pro-vided evidence supporting the chemo-preventive effect of Avemar. Even though these results do not have an immediate practical conclusion in clinical setting of patients with manifest tumors, it is noteworthy that most of our evidence concerning the cancer-combatting effect of Avemar comes from clinical data gathered during the treatment of human colorectal cancer.
Conclusions: This, combined with the evidence presented under point 2, helps to explain the results obtained when Avemar was used as a supplement in the treatment of human colorectal tumours.
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