Plant-derived compound targets cancer stem cells

In continuation of my updates on cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli

A compound and an enzyme that occur naturally in cruciferous vegetables--cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts--may help prevent recurrence and spread of some cancers, according to researchers. When they treated human cervical cancer stem cells with phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) in a Petri dish, about 75 percent died within 24 hours using a 20-micromolar concentration of the compound.  

A compound and an enzyme that occur naturally in cruciferous vegetables -- cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts -- may help prevent recurrence and spread of some cancers, according to associate professor Moul Dey of the South Dakota State University Department of Health and Nutritional Sciences. She has been doing research on phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) through a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health for more than $875,000 and support from the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station.

The precursor compound and enzyme in cruciferous vegetables combine during the chewing process to produce PEITC within the body, Dey explained. Though PEITC is a good candidate to develop as a dietary supplement, studies have also shown that sufficient cancer-preventing levels of PEITC can be achieved through diet alone.

Role of cancer stem cells

When cancer is treated with chemotherapy or radiation, the tumor disappears but the cancer stem cells live on. "These cells are frequently resistant to conventional therapies," Dey said.

Though cancer stem cells make up less than 5 percent of a tumor, they can regenerate the original tumor and migrate through the blood vessels spreading cancer to secondary locations.

"These tiny cells are very difficult to detect in a tumor," Dey pointed, adding that for a long time scientists did not even know they existed. "It's like finding a needle in a haystack."

Promising Results

When Dey and her team treated human cervical cancer stem cells with PEITC in a Petri dish, about 75 percent died within 24 hours using a 20-micromolar concentration of the compound.

In other experiments, Dey and her team have found that lower concentrations of PEITC are still very effective. Working with SDSU veterinary pathologist David Knudsen, Dey and her team found that 10-micromolar concentrations of PEITC can dramatically prevent the spread of cancer in mouse lung tissue.

"Preliminary evidence has shown a quite dramatic difference between the lung sections from the PEITC-treated and untreated mice," Dey said. However, she cautioned, although mice provide a model for human diseases, further testing is necessary to determine whether outcomes will be similar in humans.

Based on information from scientific literature, the concentrations of PEITC that Dey and her team typically use in their research -- 5 to 15 micromolars -- may be achieved through diets rich in certain types of cruciferous vegetables, particularly land and watercress.

Next, she and her team will examine how PEITC is able to overcome the resistance mechanisms that protect these stem cells from other drugs. "That's the second piece of this work," Dey added.

Plant-derived compound targets cancer stem cells 

Cruciferous vegetable intake may boost survival of breast cancer patients

In continuation of my update on Broccoli and cabbage

Researchers with Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and the Shanghai Cancer Institute in China have discovered a possible link between a diet rich in certain vegetables and a decreased risk for breast cancer.

Corresponding author Jay Fowke, Ph.D., assistant professor of Medicine, said 3,035 women diagnosed with breast cancer were identified through the Shanghai Cancer Registry. They were closely matched with 3,037 women randomly chosen from the general population.

Ref : http://www.vicc.org/news/2008/03/study-tracks-link-between-cancer-vegetables/

Leafy greens (broccoli and cabbage) protect the gut’s immune system

In continuation of my update on Broccoli and its usefulness 

Research from the Babraham Institute and the Medical Research Council (MRC), were able to prove that leafy greens protect a certain type of immune cell known as intra-epithelial lymphocytes (IELs). IELs play a crucial role in keeping the gut lining healthy and preventing ‘bad’ bacteria from entering the gut while maintaining the balance of ‘good’ bacteria which help us to break down our food. Researchers studied mice fed a diet containing many vitamins and minerals known to be essential for good health, but which lacked vegetables. Over three weeks the mice lost 70 to 80 per cent of IELs.

The research showed for the first time that mice fed a diet low in vegetables rapidly lose these specialised immune cells lining the intestinal tract, but not other immune cells. The team discovered that IELs depend on chemical signals from the digestive breakdown products of a substance called Indole-3-carbinol, high levels of which are found in vegetables like broccoli and cabbage.......

Ref :1. http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Newspublications/News/MRC008231
2.  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867411011366

Researchers identify drug candidate that can treat prostate cancer

Drug candidate, developed from a naturally occurring anti-cancer agent found in cruciferous vegetables such as cabbages and broccoli, for prostate cancer...
Researchers identify drug candidate that can treat prostate cancer

How Dietary Supplement (Broccoli, Cabbage) May Block Cancer Cells....

In continuation of  how dietary supplement may block cancer cells... In my earlier blogs,  I have mentioned that, natural compound formed during the autolytic breakdown of glucobrassicin present in food plants of the Brassica genus, including broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale) are responsible for the anticancer activity associated with broccoli and other Brassica genus.

Now researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James) have discovered how a substance  (see below structure) that is produced when eating broccoli and Brussels sprouts can block the proliferation of cancer cells.

Compelling evidence indicates that the substance, indole-3-carbinol [(above structure, I3C) : Glucobrassicin (right structure) is a type of glucosinolate that can be found in almost all cruciferous plants, such as cabbages  and broccoli, degradation by the enzyme myrosinase is expected to produce an isothiocyanate, indol-3-ylmethylisothiocyanate- which is unstable and hydrlyses to give, I3C, as most dominant degradation product], may have anticancer effects and other health benefits, the researchers say. These findings show how I3C affects cancer cells and normal cells.

The laboratory and animal study discovered a connection between I3C and a molecule called Cdc25A, which is essential for cell division and proliferation. The research showed that I3C causes the destruction of that molecule and thereby blocks the growth of breast cancer cells.

"Cdc25A is present at abnormally high levels in about half of breast cancer cases, and it is associated with a poor prognosis," says study leader Xianghong Zou, assistant professor of pathology at the Ohio State University Medical Center.

For this study, Zou and his colleagues exposed three breast cancer cell lines to I3C. These experiments revealed that the substance caused the destruction of Cdc25A. They also pinpointed a specific location on that molecule that made it susceptible to I3C, showing that if that location is altered (because of a gene mutation), I3C no longer causes the molecule's destruction.

Last, the investigators tested the effectiveness of I3C in breast tumors in a mouse model. When the substance was given orally to the mice, it reduced tumor size by up to 65 percent. They also showed that I3C had no affect on breast-cell tumors in which the Cdc25A molecule had a mutation in that key location.

Ref :  American Association for Cancer Research : Cancer Prevention Research, Xianghong Zou et al.,