August 25, 1999 By Jody Oesterreicher
A team of researchers led by pharmacologist John Pezzuto received a five-year, $6.21 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue testing potential cancer-preventing plants from around the world.
The researchers have tested 2,500 natural products since 1991 for their potential to prevent cancer, including resveratrol, a substance found in red wine that is one of their most promising discoveries.
Based on the team's findings that resveratrol limits tumors in mice, the National Cancer Institute has selected the substance for pre-clinical testing.
Pezzuto and his team are focusing their current research on dietary materials. "We think that if we identify and test substances that already can be found in our diets, it is more likely they will be safe," said Pezzuto, associate dean for research and graduate education in pharmacy.
"When you are talking about prevention, as opposed to treatment, the safety index has to be very high. Additionally, if it's in our diet, then it will be more accessible to the general population."
The UIC team will test another 1,000 plants, some already obtained from Indonesia, Thailand and Panama.
The researchers will also use new and more sophisticated technology to re-test the 2,500 other plants.
UIC has developed the world's most broad-based drug discovery program for cancer prevention.
They begin by collecting plant samples from the university's own field station, an extensive network of international contacts and field cultivation. Next, they test the plants and separate the active ingredients, which are evaluated for their cancer-prevention potential in a variety of laboratory tests. Promising substances are tested in laboratory animals.
So far, the team has discovered about 70 active compounds from plants such as Chinese cabbage, broccoli and tomatillos.
"The enormous potential of cancer chemoprevention is broadly recognized, but we have not yet reached the point where the general population can benefit," Pezzuto said.
"We hope our work ultimately will yield clinically useful agents. "Beyond this goal, our discoveries should be useful in helping the scientific community understand the mechanisms by which they prevent cancer."
Researchers in UIC's College of Pharmacy are working on two other large-scale drug discovery projects.
The Fogarty International Center, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Department of Agriculture, awarded a $2.4 million grant to pharmacognosy professor D. Doel Soejarto.
Soejarto and his team are working with researchers, tribal groups and healers in Vietnam and Laos to discover the medicinal properties of native plants. Their approach to drug discovery encourages conservation and economic development in developing countries.
The National Cancer Institute renewed grants for a project led by Douglas Kinghorn, professor of pharmacognosy, to discover drugs from plants that treat cancer. The project, in its ninth year, received $4.2 million.
Pezzuto's UIC team includes Norman Farnsworth, Harry Fong, Kinghorn, Soejarto and Richard van Breemen in medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy; Robert Moriarty, chemistry; Samad Hedayat, math, statistics and computer science; and Rajendra Mehta, surgical oncology.
