Avocadin B and AML - some application details...

[riccd2001]

My last BMB showed I have moved from low-risk MDS to AML (>20 per cent blasts). So now I had an incentive to look beyond regular PRBC transfusions which have been keeping me going for over seven years. This gives great hope for us old-timers to even get older!

I posted a couple of links to the mid-June announcements in a thread below.

For the few of us who have transformed into AML and refuse to undergo Vidaza / Dacogen chemo treatments owing to age, risk, and unknown results, I thought other reference links would help to understand the remarkable scientific details of the Avocatin B application. It's of great interest. Have a read, it's quite amazing!

https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/...9074?show=full

http://food.ndtv.com/health/avocados...-cancer-772176

[Marlene]

So sorry to hear about the AML progression. Is Avocatin B available now as supplement or does eating avocados suffice. In any case, are you eating lots of avocado's now?

https://ash.confex.com/ash/2014/webp...aper74883.html

[riccd2001]

I'm working on acquiring a taste thanks.

My understanding is that UofW is looking at pharma (big & small) through CCRM to produce a product that could be used in clinical trials. Unfortunately this approach, if successful, will lead to a VERY expensive treatment method.

Where I live, one avocado costs about $Can 1.00 (US$ 0.80). If simply consuming the nutty and creamy flesh on a regular basis, that would be a very cheap treatment indeed!

However, that sounds like one of those "too good to be true" things we all hear about every so often. Nevertheless, the research results are well documented and there is more potassium than a banana in an avocado, so that's an added benefit.

[bailie]

I was just wondering why you "refuse to undergo Vidaza / Dacogen chemo treatments owing to age, risk, and unknown results".

If you respond to the Vidaza it is about the best thing available. I feel very few side effects and my counts turn around almost immediately.

[riccd2001]

As you know bailie, with all treatment choices, YMMV. And so it goes with Vidaza / Dacogen. For my age and local methodology of choices, the positive result percentages for CR & OS simply don't make sense - for me the risks are not worth it!

[bailie]

I don't know what YMMV means. What "risks and age and local methodology of choices" are you referring?

[Cheryl C]

Thanks for the info. That is fascinating riccd2001.

I've just come back from volunteer work in Papua New Guinea where I had the opportunity to consume large avocadoes - love them and don't need to acquire a taste for them. I was expecting all my blood results to drop since I've been on a different diet and exposed to different bacteria for the last three and a half weeks. However everything had improved except for platelets which had dropped from 135 to 117 (not uncommon with me and I've been off my Vitamin D3). Maybe the avocadoes helped.

[bailie]

Is it the avocado itself that works, or is it the drug that is derived from the avocado that works?

[Cheryl C]

The second article says "a molecule in avocados may help in combating acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by targeting the root cause of the disease - leukemia stem cells". It appears that this molecule needs to be supported by, or delivered via some form of "drug" in order to work.

[Cheryl C]

Just did a bit more research and found that "Avocatin B is a compound made of two 17-carbon lipids that was extracted from avocado pear seeds" so eating avocado flesh won't do the job.

[Marlene]

great investigative work Cheryl!!!! I could only find out that it was a fat/lipid molecule. So now I'll have to look into the process used to get avocado oil. Are they pressing the whole avocado....flesh and seed. If so, then using avocado oil may be useful.

Just found the answer.....Avodado oil is from the flesh. The seed contains less than 2% fat.

[riccd2001]

As mentioned above, here's a few additional words of where things stand...

"Avocatin B is a compound made of two 17-carbon lipids that was extracted from avocado pear seeds.


How did the researchers interpret the results?

The researchers concluded that their laboratory studies demonstrated that Avocatin B "induced selective toxicity toward leukaemia and LSCs [leukaemia stem cells] with no toxicity toward normal cells."


Conclusion by the researchers:

This study has identified a compound that may lead to a new drug for treating acute myeloid leukaemia. As the research has only so far been conducted in a laboratory setting, it should be stressed that this is the beginning of a long road in drug development and may not necessarily lead to a successful treatment.

It is also important to note that the compound was extracted from the seed of the avocado and not from the flesh."