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Investigating the anti-tumor effect of elemene on pancreatic cancer cell lines

02/18/2020 // Evangelyn Rodriguez // Views

Tags: alternative medicine, anti-cancer, anti-tumor, cancer cures, cancer solutions, elemene, goodcancer, goodhealth, goodmedicine, goodscience, herbal medicine, natural cures, natural medicine, pancreatic cancer, phytonutrients, research

In this study, researchers from The First Hospital of China Medical University evaluated the anti-tumor effect and mechanism of action of elemene on pancreatic carcinoma in vitro and in vivo. Their results were published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

• Elemene is an anti-cancer compound found in plants that belong to the Zingiberaceae (ginger) family.
• Using the MTT method, the researchers evaluated the anti-proliferation ability of elemene.
• They used flow cytometry to assess its effects on the cell cycle after 12 hours of treatment.
• The researchers transplanted BxPC-3 pancreatic cancer cells subcutaneously into 48 nude mice and divided the animals into four groups, namely, control, high dosage, medium dosage and low dosage treatment groups.
• They used immunoblotting and immunohistochemical methods to detect the expression of P53 and Bcl-2 in the transplanted tumors.
• H and E staining allowed them to detect histopathological changes in each group.
• Elemene inhibited the proliferation of BxPC-3 and Panc-1 cells in vitro in a dose-dependent manner.
• It also induced cell cycle arrest in the S phase after 12 hours of treatment.
• In vivo, elemene significantly reduced tumor size in the high dosage group without causing significant changes in the animals' body weights.
• Histopathological examination showed that elemene significantly decreased the number of inflammatory cells and reduced histopathological changes in a dose-dependent manner.
• Elemene also significantly up-regulated the expression of P53 while down-regulating the expression of Bcl-2 in the tumors.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that elemene from Zingiberaceae plants is an effective anti-tumor agent against pancreatic cancer.

Read the full study at this link.

Journal Reference:

Long J, Liu Z, Hui L. ANTI-TUMOR EFFECT AND MECHANISTIC STUDY OF ELEMENE ON PANCREATIC CARCINOMA. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 18 June 2019;19(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2544-2

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