Originally published October 25 2005
Plant flavonoids may prove useful in cancer therapies
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, an assistant professor in urology at Case Western Reserve University, led a study in which pigenin, a plant flavonoid found in fruits and vegetables, resulted in a slowdown in the growth of prostate cancer tumors in mice.
Their work adds to earlier evidence showing the cancer-fighting potential of a number of different flavonoids, including apigenin.
And taken together, these studies could help explain why fruit and vegetable consumption has been associated with lower risk of prostate and other cancers in epidemiological studies.
For the new study, Dr Sanjay Gupta, an assistant professor in urology at Case Western Reserve University, and colleagues orally fed doses of 20mcg and 50mcg apigenin to mice daily two weeks before implanting a prostate tumour and then continued to feed the compound for eight weeks.
In a second protocol, apigenin was fed to mice two weeks after tumour implantation.
The first protocol mimicked prevention regimens, while the second followed therapeutic regimens for cancer.
Writing in the October online issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology journal (doi:10.1096/fj.05-3740fje), the researchers say the apigenin slowed tumour growth in both cases and did not appear to cause any adverse side effects such as weight gain or changes in diet.
These are common in patients who undergo chemotherapy treatments.
Apigenin also resulted in a decrease in levels of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor), which are associated with higher risk of breast, prostate, colorectal and lung cancers.
"Apigenin may prove useful in the prevention and therapy of prostate cancer by shutting off the IGF signalling that leads to prostate cancer cell growth and/or development," Gupta said.
"This study presents the first evidence that the in vitro and in vivo growth inhibitory effects of apigenin involve modulation of IGF-axis signalling in prostate cancer," the authors write.
The disease is a key target for research as it is the second most common cancer in men after lung cancer.
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