European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 7, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Jungle plants to Battle cancer by Malcolm hitter associated Pressa mid concern about Dos Truclio of the world s tropical rain forests government Sepin lists in Iho United slates have launched a search at tropical forests and Ocean Waters Lor help in lighting some of Man s toughest cancers. A Ive year Ollor of Pollocl thousands of Jungle Plant and Marine organism specimens leaves roots sponges a largish and the like began recently As two min submarines Dove deep into the South Pacific and Plant collectors hiked into me Rains forests of Ecuador and  samples chosen sometimes on the advice of Jungle natives will go to the National cancer Institute to see if they yield nature s own remedies Lor one of its most eared diseases. Sci s Hope is not As far fetched As it May sound experts contend and the Elloul to Sample the Jungle takes on added urgency As Man continues to destroy the world s tropical rain forests. A Black of Forest the size of England is being destroyed around the world each year says Michael Balick of Iho new York botanical Garden which is participating in the Jungle Plant Hunt. With these millions of acres go Many Many species of plants that Haven t even been discovered. Our Job is to get into some of these areas and look at the diversity of Plant life before that Forest a  White rain Forest destruction is nol the major reason Sci is paying Lor the specimen Hunts the Institute is very much aware of the problem says Gordon Cragg. Who is supervising the Jungle portion of the extort there s an awful lot being Tost out there. Unless we act now we might miss some very interesting  Sci is focusing on tropical forests because their wide variation in plants gives a better Chance of Success and because Sci has t looked closely at those plants before he says. Cragg cites an intriguing track record As Hope for the new venture. In the held of drug development nature has provided excellent Lead compounds hat proved useful on their own or after modifications he says penicillin after All came from a Mold. And by some estimates Plant derived substances account for a Quarter of human prescription drugs two than Dud leukaemia Dongi Vince Stine and i Nolastine were isolated from a decorative Plant called the Rosy periwinkle. Now in Early human trials Are  which comes from a chinese tree and shows some Promise against leukaemia and Taxon from the Western Yew which shows some activity against the skin cancer called Melanoma. The sea squirt a tiny animal that entrusts rocks in the Caribbean much like Moss had yielded Dide Nln a which has shown some Promise and has started Early trials in humans against a variety of cancers says Sci s Janice Thompson. Bui Why would plants or sea creatures produce anything that lights human cancer sometimes it makes sense As with substances the organisms produced As chemical weaponry against predators or competitors says Thompson. Other limes it s pure coincidence with chemical compounds no scientist would Ever dream up. If you look at All these different plants As chemical factories producing a really wide variety of chemicals. There s got to be Good uses for some of them says Balick of the new York botanical Garden in Southeast asian Jungle the initial collection strategy will be to go into the Forest and collect everything in sight that has Flowers and  says Jaja Sonja Rio Al the University of Illinois which has a $1.4 million Sci contract. But collectors for the three institutions in the Jungle collection project will also consult local people or advice on what plants appear useful As medicines in the Amazon indians Over thousands of years have identified these plants As useful or harmful mostly by trial and error says Balick who with colleagues Gilliean prance and Douglas Daly is overseeing the new York botanical Garden s $627,000 contract for forests in the Caribbean and South and Central America. Of photo Michael Balick of the new York botanical harder with a Roty periwinkle Plant from which two Standard leukaemia drugs Wen isolated. National cancer Institute funds Jungle specimen Hunts a put of research hoping to Una nature s own remedies. Page 16 the stars and stripes what we Are trying to do is make a shortcut Between the total Forest and the useful plants Wilh biological activity that the indians have already  collectors in african Jungles working under a $654,000 contract Between Sci and the. Missouri botanical Garden in St. Louis Wilt also ask local Medicine men How to prepare the plants they use against various diseases says Marshall Crosby of the Garden. That May be important in bringing out the useful product Crosby says. Each of the five year Jungle contracts Calls for 1,500 samples a year of such materials As bark leaves twigs and fruits. Oceangoing collectors will use scuba diving and two submarines to help gather 10,000 specimens Over five years under $3.8 million in contracts Between Sci and Saa pharm inc. Of Princeton . Each submarine has a six foot Arm with a claw versatile enough to pick up a piece of tissue paper or rip a 100-Pound Rock off a Rock Wall says Richard Vogl of Saa pharm. The Pilot and another passenger peer out a Large plastic Bubble. The subs which had been used after the space shuttle challenger exploded to look for the Craft s rocket Booster can be used to Hunt Marine specimens Down to about 2,700 Leel he says. The firs deep water expedition recently concluded near the Galapagos islands near Ecuador. More Are planned in the South Atlantic and near the Bahamas. Shallow expeditions Down to 100 feet will be launched off the australian const including the great Barrier reef he says. Collectors will ignore the Lish and other backbones animals in favor of such things As sponges corals snails and sea anemones says Sci s Thompson who s overseeing the Marine portion of the search. Only after the thousands of Jungle and Ocean saturday March 7,1887 samples reach Sci will anybody know in the Effort has done any Good. At Sci laboratories in Frederick md., researchers will extract whatever substances they can and expose cancer cells grown in the Laboratory to the extracts. Up to 100 different kinds of cells some of them variants of the same kind of cancer May be included. The cancers represented will be mainly those that resist current chemotherapy such As those of the lung Colon breast and prostate Cragg says. If the extract inhibits the growth of a particular kind of cancer cell then we figure that we be got an Active extract Cragg says. But an extract is just an undefined soup and the next step is to figure out just what substance is fighting the cancer a Job that can Lake years Cragg says. Once the substance is isolated it will be tested further in mice and similar animals lilt continues to show Promise further animal studies will study harmful Side effects. It it still looks Good then human tests can be done in Volunteer cancer patients or whom other treatments have failed. Some of this development Means More collecting in the Field. Chemists need More of whatever organism produced the extract in order to identify the Active substance. And if that substance goes on to further experiments still More of the Plant or Marine animal will be needed. For example it will probably require about half a ton of sea squirts the Rock dwelling Caribbean animal to get a bit less than two ounces of i Dennin b for scheduled human trials says Thompson of the Sci. But the destruction of the rain forests Means scientist can t assume that promising plants will be around for future collection says Balick of the new York botanical Garden. Five years from now we might gel a Call to Gal More of this Plant he says. The Paradox Wilt be will the rain Forest habitat where that particular Plant was found still exist