I came across an interesting article and research whereby it has been found that certain fishes contain the essential antigens which can prevent spread of cancer. The details are as below:
Why does Cancer cause death?
Cancer is considered a deadly disease. The main reason is that the infected tumor cells infect the surrounding tissues and the blood and lymph vessels thereby spread to all the surrounding tissues. The process of spreading and surrounding is referred to as metastasis. Depending on the type of cancer, the cancer spreads to appropriate areas and destroys the tissues and organs thereby resulting in death.
How does Fish Inhibit cancer from spreading?
Certain fishes are found to contain a specific protein or peptide, which have the capability to prevent cancers from spreading.
The fishes contain an antigen called as TFD (Thomsen-Friedenreich disaccharide). The antigen has the following properties:
- Kills T-cells (which help in the spread of the cancer cells)
- Boosts the immune system.
Which Fishes contain these antigens?
The fishes that are rich in such antigens are Polar fish like northern cod, Pacific cod, etc. These fishes contain the TFD antigen which helps them to protect them from freezing.
Dietary Supplement of such Fishes
Now that they have discovered that the antigens contained in Polar fishes can inhibit the spread of cancer, efforts are on to bring in natural dietary supplements of such fish proteins. This could help existing cancer patients to live longer by preventing the cancer cells from spreading and thereby enabling to live longer.
Let us wait for such a naturally available supplement to be available.