Mission of lilies

Famous for a mistake or flaw in science, the sea flower is considered as the patron god of blood cancer patients and brings back the vitality of the new spring .

The sea flower

Hua Hai is another name for the periwinkle. Because their flowers not only bloom in spring but also in other seasons, people also give them many other beautiful names such as spring flowers, flowers, Japanese flowers and flowers, coconut trees, and acorns. The scientific name is Catharanthus roseus L or Vinca rosea L, belonging to the peach family. The Catharanthus part is because the Latin word kartharos means purity. And anthos means beautiful flowers to the purity of a member of the architect.

In Vietnam, trees are grown in many provinces near the sea but everywhere can be grown.

Few people suspect that this fragile and soft flower contains a whole spectrum of bioactive substances. If it is called true bonsai, but it is also called herbal, it is not wrong because there are two beautiful and medicinal properties in the tree. From the sea, many different valuable chemicals have been extracted with pharmaceutical research departments and with human science. Some types such as pyrocatechic acid, flavonoid and anthrocyanic pigments from the leaves and leaves of periwinkle are red flowers, ursonic acid from leaves and cherries from the roots. Currently, it has been determined that the main active ingredient of periwinkle is idol idol alkaloids in all parts of the plant, most in roots and leaves.

If we calculate the total number of chemical compounds in seaweed, we can record the number 55 in the summary table. However, people have not yet discovered the pharmacological features of this precious plant. These 55 compounds include: the monomer alkaloids with idols and the asymmetric dimer alkaloid are almost the peculiar groups of Catharanthus roseus periwinkle. Typically vincaleucoblastin (vinblastin), leurocristin (vincristine). These are the most important alkaloids of this plant because of their anti-cancer effects . However, the amount of alkaloids in this herb is very low, it takes 500kg of coconuts, ie half a pound of coconuts just to get 1g of vincristine active substance.

The trial was confused

Just like the discovery of accidental release of iodine, a scientist has " postponed " to the point where he accidentally dumped a large bottle of iodine into a starch dish, making the starch paste turn green, the discovery The ability to fight cancer is so accidental that it can be called luck.

In 1952, TS. Clark Noble, a Canadian medic, received a postal delivery package from a patient of his. The parcel he received was filled with leaves and plants of a herbaceous variety that he also found strange. The author of the parcel said: Now people in this region are using this plant to treat diabetes. So he decided to start researching to see if there is anything in this plant that works to treat it well. He transferred 25 leaves of this plant to his brother, Robert Noble, at the time being deputy director of Collip Medical Research Laboratory of the University of Western Ontario. The study of periwinkle or lilies begins.

But the science this time did not smile at him, because the results found it very disappointing. Robert Noble could not find a single bit about the variation in blood sugar levels when tested with sea leachate. To the last mouse and this time he took all the blood to 'test' the frustration, it was very strange that the white blood cells in the rat's blood were greatly reduced, ' statistically significant '. This event caused his brain to shine, he did not conduct blood sugar tests, but switched to blood cells. After performing blood tests on various mice, he found that in all mice there was an uncontrollable decrease in white blood cells, not only in normal mice but also in mice. mice with lymphoma, the type of cancer that produces a lot of useless white blood cells need to reduce the number of them (leukemia or leukemia). It is this result that has arisen in academic brains a very simple logic: there may be something in this plant that has the effect of reducing leukocytes.

And so the research turning point began, from diabetes to lymphoma. In 1954, the chemist who gave birth to Beer in Robert Noble's laboratory, in 1958 successfully refined an alkaloid from the leaves of this mysterious herb with molecular chemistry. He named it vinblastine. And from there vinblastine began hospitalization with the first clinical trials at Toronto State Princess Hospital in patients with lymphoma.

The discovery of vinblastine and the anticancer properties of periwinkle or seaweed are perfectly lucky from a confusing experiment. But without this confusing experiment, without a passion for science, it must be a long time before we have a drug that can treat cancer. Although discovered by chance, the occurrence of vinblastine is considered a landmark historical milestone in the treatment of the disease that is still leading the medical research world.

And the historical turn

The main pharmacological activity of vinblastine is to inhibit the formation of mitotic spindle during cell division and is used clinically to treat cancer . Cancer cells want to divide and reproduce in duplicate, they need a mitotic spindle so that chromosomes contain genetic material and other components slide to the sides. Without mitosis, chromosomes cannot slip and of course mitosis cannot occur. Vinblastine has done this.

Currently, vinblastine is used clinically to treat Hodgkin stage III and IV disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, lymphoma. It is also used to treat bladder cancer, skin cancer, kidney cancer, adenocarcinoma, breast cancer and testicular cancer. However, this effect has a negative effect on neurotransmission because the binding of microtubules is considered to play an important role in neurotransmission along axons. When vinblastine is used to kill cancer, the neurotransmitter process is immediately affected. Therefore, it is not a good substance of the nerve, even neurotoxic.

But no matter what, with the discovery of vinblastine, the oncology industry has added a very effective substance in the treatment of blood cancer . The turning point for cancer treatment to go to a new site is more successful. And also so that the periwinkle or the lilac has played a role in the human ' rescue ' mission.