Kagoshima hot spring water may suppress cancer researchers+
Posted on: Thursday, 18 September 2003, 06:00 CDT
KAGOSHIMA, Japan, Sept. 19 (Kyodo) Researchers at Kagoshima University say they have found that water from the Sekihira hot spring in northeastern Kagoshima Prefecture contains chemicals that appear to be effective in suppressing the growth of cancer cells.
The researchers, led by Makoto Fujii, a professor of the Kagoshima University Faculty of Agriculture, reached the conclusion after conducting experiments on human adults and mice fed with the spring water.
Discovered 170 years ago in the township of Makizono, the Sekihira hot spring -- where the chemical compounds include sodium and potassium -- has long been known for its healing properties on ailments and wounds.
In order to scientifically prove the spring water's healing properties, the Makizono township has proposed the Kagoshima University team to jointly conduct the research on the spring water.
In their experiments, the Fujii team focused on the activities of the so-called ''natural killer'' cells, a type of lymphocytes generally considered to be the body's first line of defense against mutant cells such as cancer and virus-infected cells.
The team measured the activities of natural killer cells in 24 adult subjects who drank a liter of the spring water everyday over a 60-day period.
The team found that the natural killer cells in these adults became roughly 1.4 times more active in 30 days and roughly 1.6 times more active after 60 days.
In another set of experiments using mice injected with cancer cells, the team found that the growth of cancer cells in mice fed with the spring water was 10% of those who were not the given the spring water.
''The results were very unexpected and caught us by surprise,'' Fujii said.
Fujii said he has yet to single out the cancer suppressants in the spring water and he hopes to understand the mechanism through more experiments.
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