Broccoli sprout extract may protect against oral cancer recurrence

It is the first study demonstrating that the extract protects against oral cancer, with the results of human, animal and laboratory tests reported in the journalCancer Prevention Research. This research is funded through Pitt's Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant in head and neck cancer from the National Cancer Institute.

"With head and neck cancer, we often clear patients of cancer only to see it come back with deadly consequences a few years later," said lead author Julie Bauman, M.D., M.P.H., co-director of the UPMC Head and Neck Cancer Center of Excellence. "Unfortunately, previous efforts to develop a preventative drug to reduce this risk have been inefficient, intolerable in patients and expensive. That led us to 'green chemoprevention'--the cost-effective development of treatments based upon whole plants or their extracts."

Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage and garden cress, have a high concentration of the naturally occurring molecular compound sulforaphane, which previously has been shown to protect people against environmental carcinogens.

Dr. Bauman and her colleagues treated human head and neck cancer cells in the laboratory with varying doses of sulforaphane and a control, and compared them to normal, healthy cells that line the throat and mouth. The sulforaphane induced both types of cells to increase their levels of a protein that turns on genes that promote detoxification of carcinogens, like those found in cigarettes, and protect cells from cancer.

In a small preclinical trial, 10 healthy volunteers drank or swished fruit juice mixed with broccoli sprout extract for several days. The volunteers had no significant problems tolerating the extract and the lining of their mouths showed that the same protective genetic pathway activated in the laboratory cell tests was activated in their mouths, meaning that the sulforaphane was absorbed and directed to at-risk tissue.

Dr. Bauman also collaborated with senior author Daniel E. Johnson, Ph.D., professor of medicine at Pitt and a senior scientist in the UPCI Head and Neck Cancer Program, to see how the extract performed in mice predisposed to head and neck cancer. The mice who received the sulforaphane developed far fewer tumors than their counterparts who did not receive the extract.

The results of the mouse, human and lab studies have been so successful that Dr. Bauman has started a larger clinical trial in volunteers previously cured of head and neck cancer. These participants are taking capsules containing broccoli seed powder, which is more convenient to take regularly than the extract mixed with juice.

"Head and neck cancers account for approximately 3 percent of all cancers in the U.S., but that burden is far greater in many developing countries," said Dr. Bauman. "A preventative drug created from whole plants or their extracts may ease the costs of production and distribution, and ultimately have a huge positive impact on mortality and quality of life in people around the world."

Ref : http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2016/04/30/1940-6207.CAPR-15-0290

Broccoli sprout extract may protect against oral cancer recurrence  

Sulforaphane-rich foods safe and effective for preventing cancer

In continuation of my update on the benefits of broccoli and  sulforaphane............

Sulforaphane-rich foods safe and effective for preventing cancer

Anti-Cancer Effects of Broccoli Ingredient Explained......

In continuation of my update on the dietary benefits of broccoli and how it helps to reduce the cancer risk....

Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Cancer have found that sulforaphane, a chemical found in broccoli, interacts with cells lacking a gene called PTEN to reduce the chances of prostate cancer developing.

Richard Mithen, from the Institute of Food Research, an institute of BBSRC, worked with a team of researchers on Norwich Research Park, UK, to carry out a series of experiments in human prostate tissue and mouse models of prostate cancer to investigate the interactions between expression of the PTEN gene and the anti cancer activity of sulforaphane.

"PTEN is a tumour suppressor gene, the deletion or inactivation of which can initiate prostate carcinogenesis, and enhance the probability of cancer progression. We've shown here that sulforaphane has different effects depending on whether the PTEN gene is present."

The research team found that in cells which express PTEN, dietary intervention with SF has no effect on the development of cancer. In cells that don't express the gene, however, sulforaphane causes them to become less competitive, providing an explanation of how consuming broccoli can reduce the risk of prostate cancer incidence and progression.

Ref :  http://www.molecular-cancer.com/content/pdf/1476-4598-9-189.pdf

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.,

Synergistic activity of Sorafenib and Sulforaphane abolishes pancreatic cancer...

In continuation of my update on "Sorafenib", I find this info interesting to share with...

A team led by Professor Dr. Ingrid Herr, Head of the Department of Molecular Oncosurgery, a group of the Department of Surgery at Heidelberg University Hospital, have come up with an interesting finding, i.e.,  Sorafenib  (used for advanced liver and kidney cancer) also appears to be effective against cancer stem cells in pancreatic cancer. It inhibits resistant tumor stem cells and is also especially effective in combination with sulforaphane, an organic compound found in broccoli. 

In their tests on cancer cells and mice, the researchers showed that sorafenib inhibited typical properties of cancer stem cells from pancreas tumors and greatly reduced tumor growth. However, this effect lasted only for a short time and after four weeks, new colonies of cancer stem cells formed that no longer reacted to further treatment with sorafenib. The resistance is probably related to a certain metabolic pathway, the NF-kB pathway, that is activated by sorafenib, claims the researchers. 

Naturally occurring substance(s) e.g., sulforaphane (vegetables from the cruciferous family such as broccoli and cauliflower possess a high content of sulforaphane, an anti-cancer compound)  that block precisely this undesired NF-KB pathway and thus make the dangerous cells vulnerable.  The experiments show that sulforaphane prevents the activation of the NF-kB pathway by sorafenib and hence the combination treatment reinforces the effect of sorafenib without causing additional side effects. Researchers conclude that the invasive potential of cancer cells was prevented  and  metastasis was completely blocked in cell culture experiments. 

"We assume that nutrition may be a suited approach to break therapy resistance of cancer stem cells and thus make tumor treatment more effective," Professor Herr suggested....

Ref : http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/70/12/5004

Antioxidant in the vegetables for treating Cystic Fibrosis.....

I did mention in my earlier blogs, about the importance of eating broccoli and how it helps to prevent cancer and the authors claimed that the key ingredient that is responsible for this activity (claimed by the authors) is sulforaphane.

Now researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, have found an interesting fact that the antioxidant thiocyanate normally existing in the body protects lung cells from injuries caused by accumulations of hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite, the active ingredient in household bleach. These potentially harmful chemicals are made by the body as a reaction to infection and injury. In addition, thiocyanate also protects cells from hypochlorite produced in reactions involving MPO, an enzyme released from germ-fighting white blood cells during inflammation.

The research team demonstrated that in three additional cell types used to extend their ideas to other inflammation-related conditions - cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and diabetes - thiocyanate at blood concentrations of at least 100 micromolar (micromoles per liter) greatly reduces the toxicity of MPO in cells, including those lining blood vessels. Humans naturally derive thiocyanate from some vegetables and blood levels of thiocyanate in the general population vary from 10 to 140 micromolar.

So without an adequate dietary supply of thiocyanate (from broccoli & Cauliflower), hypochlorite produced by the body during inflammation would cause additional collateral damage to cells, thus worsening inflammatory diseases, and predisposing humans to diseases linked to MPO activity, including atherosclerosis. Thus the authors claim that delivering thiocyanate directly to the digestive and respiratory systems might be a therapy for CF disease.

Ref :
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/11/11/0911412106.full.pdf+html?sid=2078aa5c-20d6-4a74-b98a-2a5ef6df93d4

Broccoli sprouts may help prevent stomach cancer !

Pict., of Broccoli (Structures of DIM & Sulforaphane respectively)

We knew that Broccoli has anticancer activity due to the presence Diindolylmethane, DIM (Str-1). DIM is a 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. The autolytic breakdown of glucobrassicin requires the catalytic reaction of the enzyme myrosinase which is endogenous to these plants and released upon rupture of the cell wall

(the same compound, has been tested for viral nfections,bacterial infections and immune deficiency diseases also). And boiling the Broccoli, will lead to the loss of this compound has been also established

Now more interestingly, Dr. Jed Fahey has come out with something different and this time they have mentioned about a phytochemical from broccoli, i.e., sulforaphane. Though the cancer protective effects of sulforaphane is known two decades ago, but this is the first study to show an effect of broccoli in humans on the bacterial infection that leads to stomach cancer. In this study, researchers enrolled 48 Helicobacter-infected Japanese men and women and randomly assigned them to eat 70 grams of fresh broccoli sprouts daily for eight weeks or an equivalent amount of alfalfa sprouts.

Researchers assessed the severity of H. pylori infection at enrollment, and again at four and eight weeks using standard breath, serum and stool tests. H. pylori levels were significantly lower at eight weeks on all three measures among those patients who had eaten broccoli sprouts, while they remained the same for patients who had eaten alfalfa sprouts.

A reduction in H. pylori is expected to lead to a reduction in stomach cancer due to their well-established cause-and-effect link. Stomach cancer has a grim prognosis and is the second most common and the second deadliest cancer worldwide. Congrats Dr. Jed Fahey and group...