This week's artwork was donated by Adrienne, a pediatric cancer patient who received treatment at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia . Unfortunately, sharks do get cancer. They develop melanoma, brain tumors, cancer of the blood system and even cancer in the cartilage. Shark cartilage is purported to contain angiogenesis inhibitors, which prevent the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow. A modest anti-angiogenic effect has been seen in test tubes, but not in humans at this point.
Shark cartilage is supplied in powder and capsule forms.
It is taken orally and sometimes as an enema. The news program 60 Minutes gave shark cartilage a huge boost a few years ago. A small study on shark cartilage was reported at the American Society for Clinical Oncology in 1997 . Patients with advanced cancer were given shark cartilage for 12 weeks. Of the 58 patients treated, there was not one complete response or partial response to shark cartilage.