Propanc Biopharma, Inc. announced that Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder, Dr Julian Kenyon, MD, MB, ChB, reflects on the unique anti-cancer effects of PRP discovered as a result of the significant and diligent research invested by the Company and its joint research team over the past decade. PRP is a proenzyme therapy for the treatment and prevention of metastatic cancer from solid tumors. This unique approach could become an effective tool in the fight against metastatic cancer, which is the main cause of patient death for sufferers.

PRP is considered unique because rather than kill cancer cells like most standard therapies, proenzymes induce cancer cells to differentiate so they are no longer malignant and die off naturally, “thus preventing these dangerous cells to spread and metastasize,” according to Dr Kenyon. Since 2013, Dr Kenyon and his joint research team have published five scientific papers highlighting the effects of proenzymes against a range of solid tumors, by inducing cell differentiation (reversing cancerous cells so they are no longer malignant), impairing angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) of solid tumors, and inhibiting cancer stem cell (CSC) formation by blocking the epithelial to mesenchymal (EMT) process. The EMT is a normal biological process normally associated with embryogenesis and wound healing.

When CSCs undergo the EMT process, they become motile and invasive, with an ability to spread into surrounding tissues. Furthermore, they become immortal and are resistant to standard treatment approaches, which can often cause a patient to relapse post treatment. The joint scientific papers have been published in journals such as Cellular Oncology, Scientific Reports (an online Nature journal) and Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy.

One paper, which explores in vivo pharmacokinetic (activity of drugs in an organism over time) studies and the anti-tumour efficacy of PRP against orthotopic (grafted) pancreatic and ovarian cancer tumours, as well as clinical observations from the compassionate use study conducted by Dr Kenyon, achieved over 2,000 reads, thus indicating strong interest among the scientific community. Further research is in progress with the Company's joint research partners focusing on the effects of PRP on the tumor microenvironment. Results shows that PRP causes reversal of the malignant tumor phenotype (observable characteristics) towards a normal, or benign state, which was, “most unexpected, very exciting and powerfully conclusive,” according to Ms. Belen Toledo MSc, from the laboratory of Professor Macarena Perán PhD, University of Jaén, Spain.

PRP is a mixture of two proenzymes, trypsinogen and chymotrypsinogen from bovine pancreas administered by intravenous injection. A synergistic ratio of 1:6 inhibits growth of most tumor cells. Examples include kidney, ovarian, breast, brain, prostate, colorectal, lung, liver, uterine and skin cancers.