Experts from the Shanghai Institute of Hematology at Ruijin Hospital announced they have found a Chinese herb which can target cancer cells without damaging healthy cells in leukemia treatment.

The institute signed a cooperation deal with Jiangsu Province Hengrui Pharmaceutical Co. over the weekend for further clinical tests and production of oridonin, a natural diterpeniod extracted from medical herbs, which can be used to treat acute myelocytic leukemia, the most serious variant.

About 60 to 70 percent of patients with this type of leukemia have a re-occurrence or develop a drug resistance after receiving chemotherapy for one year. Moreover, a long-term chemotherapy is expensive and risky.

Experts said both basic research and animal tests have confirmed that oridonin can inhibit the growth of cancerous cells without destroying the healthy ones.

The institute has been involved in developing leukemia treatment, which just targets the cancerous cells without damaging the healthy ones, based on cellular and molecular research and gene technology for years.

Traditionally, chemical and radiation therapies are the most commonly used treatments for leukemia and other cancers, but they kill both cancerous cells and healthy cells.

(Shanghai Daily October 29, 2007)