Mesothelioma: Shark Cartilage and Cancer

According to I. William Lane, author of "Sharks Don't Get Cancer" and a leading proponent of shark cartilage as an effective cancer treatment, ingestion of shark cartilage inhibits angiogenesis. In lay terms, what this means is that cartilage apparently reduces the creation of a network of blood vessels around a tumor, and therefore prevents it from growing or spreading.
A number of websites (including those owned by William Lane and his son, Andrew Lane) and health food stores sell shark cartilage pills and claim that they are effective cancer (and/or arthritis) therapies.

Potential consumers, however, should be aware that the effectiveness of shark cartilage has not been demonstrated scientifically. They should also know that although I. William Lane is popularly known as "Dr. Lane", he has a Ph.D. in agricultural biochemistry rather than a M.D. Also, he was a vice-president at W.R. Grace, which is an important defendant in many asbestos cancer lawsuits.

Potential consumers should also be aware that, in December 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Lane Labs-USA and Andrew Lane (its president and the son of I. William Lane) in the U.S District Court for the District of New Jersey. The FDA sought to stop them from marketing shark cartilage with claims that it is an effective cancer therapy.

Cartilage is a type of tissue found in the skeleton. Interestingly, the skeletons of sharks are almost entirely cartiliginous and, as far as we know, the cancer rate in sharks for certain types of tumors appears to be low. Shark and bovine cartilage, and possibly other types, contain angiogenic inhibitors - compounds that halt the creation of blood vessels. This combination of facts means that shark and other types of cartilage are of considerable interest to medical researchers.

However there is, at this time, no clinical evidence that swallowing powdered shark cartilage is an effective cancer treatment or that it inhibits angiogenesis. The cartilage is digested by the body's gastric system, rather than absorbed (with its antiangiogenic inhibitors) into the bloodstream.

Although there are several antiangiogenesis clinical trials in progress they are all in very early stages of testing. These drugs are not administered orally.

Before anyone with mesothelioma takes shark cartilage he/she should discuss this matter with his/her treating physician. There are a number of reasons to do this, including the need to ensure that he/she obtains only clinical-grade cartilage and the possibility of side-effects.