Kruiden
tegen pancreaskanker.*
Het lijkt erop dat bepaalde kruiden zeer effectief kunnen zijn in het bestrijden van pancreaskanker. Uit een Amerikaanse studie, zij het met muizen, blijkt dit zo te zijn. Pancreaskanker is een zeer agressieve kankersoort met een lage overlevingskans. De muizen kregen pancreaskankercellen geïmplanteerd en daarna als supplement een speciaal kruidenextract te weten Triphala. Triphala is het gedroogde extract van de vruchten van drie kruiden; Amla, Terminalia beleirica en Terminalia chebula. Triphala wordt al zeer lang gebruikt tegen allerlei darmproblemen. Het gedroogde extract wordt met wat water ingenomen ter bevordering van de eetlust en de spijsvertering en ter verhoging van het aantal rode bloedcellen. In de studie hadden de muizen die triphala als supplement kregen na 5 weken duidelijk meer markers voor celdood in de kankercellen, was de tumor slechts de helft zo groot als muizen zonder supplement. Gezonde pancreascellen werden niet negatief beïnvloed door triphala.
Growth
Of Pancreatic Cancer Cells Hindered By Popular Herbal Supplement
A
new study from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute suggests that a
commonly used herbal supplement, triphala, has cancer-fighting properties that
prevent or slow the growth of pancreatic cancer tumors implanted in mice. The
study found that an extract of triphala, the dried and powdered fruits of three
plants, caused pancreatic cancer cells to die through a process called apoptosis
- the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted or unneeded cells.
This process often is faulty in cancer cells. Results of the study, abstract
number LB-142, were presented in a late-breaking session at the annual meeting
of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Triphala, one of the most popular herbal preparations in the world, is used for
the treatment of intestinal-related disorders. It is typically taken with water
and thought to promote appetite and digestion and to increase the number of red
blood cells.
"We discovered that triphala fed orally to mice with human pancreatic
tumors was an extremely effective inhibitor of the cancer process, inducing
apoptosis in cancer cells," said Sanjay K. Srivastava, Ph.D., lead
investigator and assistant professor, department of pharmacology, University of
Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "Triphala triggered the cancerous cells to
die off and significantly reduced the size of the tumors without causing any
toxic side effects."
Dr. Srivastava and colleagues fed mice grafted with human pancreatic tumors 1 to
2 milligrams of triphala for five days a week and then compared tumor size and
levels of apoptotic proteins in the tumors to a control group of mice that
received normal saline only. They found that the mice that received triphala had
increased levels of proteins associated with apoptosis and significantly smaller
tumor sizes when compared to the control group. Triphala-treated tumors were
half the size of tumors in untreated mice. Further testing revealed that
triphala activated tumor-suppressor genes, resulting in the generation of
proteins that support apoptosis, but did not negatively affect normal pancreatic
cells.
"Our results demonstrate that triphala has strong anticancer properties
given its ability to induce apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells without
damaging normal pancreatic cells," said Dr. Srivastava. "With
follow-up studies, we hope to demonstrate its potential use as a novel agent for
the prevention and treatment of pancreatic cancer," said Dr. Srivastava.
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CONTACT: Jim Swyers
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth-leading cause of cancer death in the United
States and is one of the most aggressive cancers, with an extremely poor
prognosis.
Co-investigator of the study is Yan Shi, Ph.D., post-doctoral fellow at the
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. (Mei 2007)