Cancer The Common Forms Of Disease Worldwide - 982 Words

Cancer is one of the most common forms of disease worldwide; approximately 25 percent of deaths within the United States are related to cancer. Prostate cancer is one of the most frequently occurring cancers within men, while breast cancer is commonly diagnosed within women. The most common cancers observed in both men and women include pancreatic, and lung and bronchus cancers.1 Once a person has been diagnosed with cancer, the person may be advised to generally undergo the following treatment options: radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, or a combination of the three therapies.2 The current issues that are associated with these treatments include low selectivity toward malignant cells, causing damage to healthy tissue and forcing the†¦show more content†¦Once the cell has become malignant, it is living under environmentally induced stress because of hypoxia and nutrient depletion. Malignant cells are dependent of autophagy for survival, and radiation promotes autophagy; thus, radiation promotes cancer.4 Current cancer treatments have high risks of harsh side effects and a high probability of reoccurring cancer. There is an urgent need for new anticancer therapies; compounds derived from the natural products of bacteria and fungi have been investigated as a possible solution. The natural product industry gained popularity around1970-1980 and the primary focus is to determine the structure of small molecule produced by fungi or bacteria; the ability to bind to macromolecular structures can be determined with the assistance of various biological assays.5 These secondary metabolites are derived from soil samples and studies determine if they may have clinical applications.6 This study seeks to investigate the natural products of Tolypocladium sp. strain Salcha-1 as possible therapeutic agents, with a particular interest with anticancer potential. Tolypocladim sp. produces few compounds; however, the genome of the fungus indicates that several secondary meta bolites are potentially producible. In attempt to retrieve these secondary metabolites, Tolypocladium sp. was co-incubated with a selection of heavy metals to induce environmental stress. When living with stressful conditions,