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Lao Rainforests Becoming Laboratory for Cancer Drugs
The emerging field of ethnopharmocology is pinpointing exciting new possibilities in Laos to fight the deadliest cancers. Djaja D. Soejarto has been trekking through the rain forests of Laos and Vietnam for over two decades in search of cytotoxic molecules—the anticancer drugs of the future. It’s a quest—a biological prospecting—that depends on carefully-crafted partnerships with national governments, village communities, and local healers. “The community has to know what we intend to do. They have to permit us to go in there,” Dr Soejarto told The Daily Beast. “When you want to sit down with the [traditional] healer, before you ask any questions, you have to ask permission to the healer whether he or she wishes to be interviewed.” An emeritus professor of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr Soejarto recently contributed to a paper with first author Joshua Henkin. It describes two expeditions in Laos during a recent “dry winter season” in Xieng Khouang along with Bolikhamxay, a lowland rain forest recovering from the devastation of past fires and logging. Soejarto’s team collected over 200 samples from nearly 100 species in total. The report found that, based on intel from traditional healers in Laos, six unique plant extracts from six different species “exhibited notable cytotoxicity” against colon cancer. Five of these plant extracts killed more than half of HT-29 colon cancer cells—a notoriously hard-to-treat cell line (adenocarcinoma). “It’s not that you necessarily can translate these results directly to […] a tumor, but at least it gives you some idea that it’s killing these cells to a significant degree,” Henkin told The Daily Beast. “There aren’t more of them. And there are, in fact, [colon cancer cells] that died as a result of this.” This success rate—a high ‘hit rate’ against colon cancer cells—is exceedingly rare, ethnobotanist and anthropologist Glenn Shepard told The Daily Beast. “They found that plant species derived from traditional medicine had a 6.25 percent success rate in bioassays for some kind of anti-cancer activity. But how can we be sure that what’s in the lab can actually help cure what’s in the body? There’s no guarantee that the cell lines you have in the lab really have exactly the same characteristics as the tumor cell line, but there are ways of investigating that further,” Henkin said. Plant-derived drugs and treatments are becoming more prevalent in allopathic medicine (so-called ‘Western’ or ‘mainstream’ medicine): a 2012 paper estimated over 60 percent of anticancer drugs originate from natural sources. “Nature is the best source of anti-cancer drugs,” a 2017 index of scientific literature on the topic proclaimed. Dr Soejarto and Henkin’s paper outlines how the old-school bioprospecting method—collecting a diverse range of wild plants at random testing them in the lab—was actually less successful than a strategy called “ethnobotany,” a culturally- and community-oriented approach that takes folk medicine seriously. “What I think is really interesting about the plants that we found with active plant parts against the HT-29 cells is that three of the plant parts were in fact used locally for various purposes of medicine,” Mr Henkin said. For the comple article, click here. Source: The Daily Beast
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Lao Bartenders Mix Well at ASEAN Championship
The top two Lao bartenders at this year’s Bartender of the Year 2018 Competition at June’s Lao Food Expo faced the best mixologists from the region at the ASEAN Hotel & Restaurant Association (AHRA) Bartenders Championship held in Singapore on 28 and 29 August 2018. According to Wine & Dine Magazine SG, “It was an action-packed night at the finals of this year’s…AHRA ASEAN Bartenders Championship. Nimble skills and nifty showmanship from contestants around the region kept us on the edge of our seats.” Phimalay “Gip” Xengthip, representing The Spirit House Bar & Restaurant in Vientiane, battled her way to 4th place in the finals. The winner was Sylvester Foo from Renku Lounge, MBS, Singapore. Gip was runner up at the Lao Food Expo 2018 competition. According to the judges, Kham “Ay” Khounkeo from the AVANI+ Luang Prabang “put in a great performance,” but the winner at Lao Food Expo 2018 missed the final round. Click here to visit the AHRA.
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Tiger Trail Preps Luang Prabang Treks
The Tiger Trail staff in Luang Prabang recently spent time clearing the tracks to prepare for the upcoming high season, and topping the list is the one-day, 17-km “Trekking the Longhut Trail”. This tour (FT-1BM) is for fit travelers looking for a challenging trek, featuring great scenery and visits to remote Hmong and Khmu hill tribe villages. The day begins with a drive to Ban Xieng Lom on the Nam Khan River, and a boat ride across the waters to a mountainous jungle trail to Lao Theung Village and a Khmu village visit. The trek continues into a landscape of soaring limestone rock faces, with the trail turning steep, narrow, and rocky before reaching the isolated Hmong village of Lao Sung with loads of roaming livestock. Here, trekkers enjoy lunch in a local, humble home, while listening to stories about the various cultures, playing with the children, or asking questions about their way of life. The descent passes through other small villages and follows a stream, while meeting villagers heading home from markets or the fields until the trek ends at the Nam Khan River. This trek is rated medium to difficult, and usually takes 6-8 hours, depending on conditions. For an easier trek in the same incredible area see the FT-1AM tour For more information, click here.
