Dr. Ramademi Subramani-Reddy is studying the efficacy of the neem tree as a possible treatment for cancer and other chronic illnesses like diabetes. She spoke with KC Counts about her research. Here is a transcript of their conversation:
KC Counts:
So, you've just received a grant, another grant, I should say. Tell us a little bit about what this grant means for your research.
Dr. Reddy:
So, first of all, you know, I want to thank sincerely, you know, the Coldwell Foundation for supporting my research over the years. Their generosity, you know, helps us continue this important work for our community. So, I have been receiving a Coldwell Foundational Grant since 2019 until now. So, it's a lot of money and it helps us to generate a lot of preliminary, you know, data that we areusing to submit the grant applications to secure funding.
KC Counts:
Explain the focus of your research.
Dr. Reddy:
Think of the pancreas as a helper organ. One part helps digest food and the other helps control the blood sugar. So, most pancreatic cancer starts in the part of the pancreas that helps digest food. So pancreatic cancer is very dangerous because it often grows silently; by the time symptoms appear like weight loss, back pain or indigestion, the cancer hasoften already spread. This is why the survival rate remains low. So, what are we trying to do is in my lab, we search for new cancer treatments from natural sources, especially from plants. And the plant that I'musing is called Neem, and it is scientifically known as Azadirachta indica. In fact, many of the most successful cancer drugs, you know, originally came from plants, so that's why I'm also interested in identifying anti-cancer drugs from plants. So, we discovered a promising compound from this Neem tree, and you can think of this compound as a smart tool that helps shut down the cancer survival system.
KC Counts:
Tell me about the tree. Where does it grow? And how did you first learn that there could be hope for a treatment here?
Dr. Reddy:
So, this particular plant, it is commonly seen in almost all the tropical countries, like India. So, I would say like most of our backyards will have this tree. So, this is such a versatile tree and people use this tree to treat anything that we have from head to toe. So even, people start to worship this tree saying that it's a sacred gift from nature.
KC Counts:
So, this tree been used over time by generations of people to treat various illnesses?
Dr. Reddy:
Exactly. So people have been using this tree for generations and generations. So, in Ayurvedic medicine, it's a type of, you know, folk medicine in India. So, people use this to treat almost all kinds of illnesses. And with modern medicine, people were, you know, trying to prove their medicinal properties. And it has been reported to have various medicinal properties like antiviral, antibacterial, anti-mutagenic, anti-inflammation, antioxidant, anti-cancer,
KC Counts:
So is it your goal to try to figure out how to bottle it up?
Dr. Reddy:
Exactly. So, in my lab, I just wanted to see how this one works against pancreatic cancer growth and progression.
KC Counts:
What have you learned so far?
Dr. Reddy:
So to begin with, we saw it as, you know, significantly decreasing the reproduction of the cancer cells, but we just wanted to know how it is, you know, affecting it. So, we wanted to study the mechanism of action. So that's whenwe started studying the stem cells and stem cells are one of the, you know, crucial players, which helps in the cancer cell, you know, proliferation, and regeneration and the spread of cancer cells.
KC Counts:
Is that what you refer to as the Sonic Hedgehog?
Dr. Reddy:
Yes, exactly. There are multiple different signaling, which actually, you know, regulates the stem cells. So the one that I was interested in is the Sonic Hedgehog signaling. So this particular signaling, it is named after the video game. So one of the genes which plays a crucial role in embryonic development before birth, it was discovered in the fruit fly. That's where they were identified this particular gene to begin with. So this looks like a hedgehog and the video game character was just used to name it.
KC Counts:
I understand that actually fruit flies are used a lot in research because there are certain similarities to human beings that you might be surprised to know about. I know I was.
Dr. Reddy:
Exactly. It's so easy to handle as well. So, and it has like very similar genes that we have.
KC Counts:
Very interesting. You know, I think that a lot of people believe that so many cures exist around us in nature, or at least treatments. Why is it that we haven't come farther in natural treatments versus, say, pharmaceuticals, do you think? Or is that even fair to say?
Dr. Reddy:
So actually, you know, many people are interested in curing their issues with shorter period of time. So that's where people prefer the synthetic drugs over the natural drugs. Natural drugs, it takes its own sweet time, but you will not have much of these side effects or off-target effects like the one that we get using these synthetic drugs.
KC Counts:
So where are you in your research now and what is your timeline? What do you hope to learn in a certain amount of time?
Dr. Reddy:
Yes. So as I said, like we wanted to find a nano effective drug with much less side effects. So we wanted to use advanced research tools that closely mimic the real patients. So, including patient derived tissues and specialized, like human-mouse model, like humanized mouse models. And so that works in the lab and has better chances of working in people as well. So drug discovery is very challenging. Many drugs look promising early on, but fail later because they are too toxic or don't reach the tumor, you know, effectively. That's why we focus not just on killing the cancer cells, but on delivery and precision. So, a short-term goal is to identify strong drug candidates and move them forward into advanced testing. But our long-term goal is much bigger, to develop treatments that are not only effective, but affordable and accessible to patients everywhere.
KC Counts:
How will you know when it should move on to human trials, for example?
Dr. Reddy:
Yeah, so we have to do a lot. Right now, we just tested the efficacy of our drug using the... you know, the cancer cells in the lab. And then we have to test these drugs on the human, you know, mouse models. But we also developed tiny nanoparticles, which is like, you know, microscopic delivery trucks that carries the drug directly to the tumor. So these nanoparticles will help the medicine reach the right place using, you know, much smaller doses, which reduces the side effects. So now we wanted to test the efficacy of our drug using this tiny nanoparticles. And then once we were successful, then we will be doing clinical trials using them.
KC Counts:
What else do you think is important for people to know about your research?
Dr. Reddy:
So as I said, like discovering drugs, it's not an easy task. It is so difficult. It takes like anywhere now close to two decades. We start with thousands of molecules and we end up with like you know a couple of molecules and we are taking so much time and effort to discover these anti-cancer agents but our main goal is to you know identifying this drug with better efficacy with less side effects, to give the better treatment option for the people with this aggressive disease.
KC Counts:
I also noticed that you kind of were inspired perhaps by the use of the plant for people with diabetes, something so common in our region. Is there any science on that
particular use?
Dr. Reddy:
Yes. So as I said, this particular plant, you know, it's known to use for various illnesses. So for example, many people are using this to treat the diabetes. It's kind of a bitter and they prefer to take it pretty much like, you know, every day in their drink, like a few leaves or like an extract of this leaves. And that helps to reduce the, you know, blood sugar levels. And as I said, the pancreas is, you know, composed of two parts, right? One is exocrine, the other one is endocrine. So the major exocrine functions of the pancreas is to secrete the enzymes that helps to digest the food. That's where, you know, the majority of the pancreatic cancer arises from. So this plant helps in the, you know, treating diabetes. And this plant is also, majorly impacts that pancreatic tissue. That's where this cancer is rising from.
KC Counts:
So are there, does it come already in a supplement form that people can buy and use safely in any drugstore?
Dr. Reddy:
Yes, it is available on Amazon and many other places. If you say like neem extract, neem leaves, neem powder, neem compounds, these are all like, you know, available.
KC Counts:
All right. Well, thank you so much for chatting with us. I know this is going to be a long-term project. So I hope that we can check in with you from time to time to see how things are progressing. Good luck.
Dr. Reddy:
Thank you so much for having me.
Consult with your doctor before trying any supplements. While Dr. Reddy's research is promising, it could be a long time before human trials are warranted and conducted and a medication is developed and made available.
