Granaatappels tegen (prostaat)kanker.*

Zowel uit laboratoriumstudies als studies met muizen blijkt dat granaatappels (fruit uit het Midden-Oosten) kankercellen, zelfs agressieve, goed kan bestrijden. Hoe meer inname van granaatappels (extracten in de studies) hoe meer kankercellen stierven. Het blijkt effectief te zijn zowel bij kankers als bij het voorkomen van kanker. De antioxidant eigenschappen van granaatappels lijkt nog groter te zijn dan rode wijn en groene thee tezamen. Zo snel mogelijk zullen nu studies gedaan moeten worden met mensen.

Can Pomegranates Prevent Prostate Cancer? A New Study Offers Promise

MADISON - The juice of the pomegranate, say researchers at University of Wisconsin Medical School, shows major promise to combat prostate cancer - the most common invasive cancer and the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men. With more than 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer expected to be diagnosed this year alone in the U.S. and the outlook poor for patients with metastatic disease, researchers are looking for new strategies to combat the disease. Earlier research at Wisconsin and elsewhere has shown that the pomegranate, a fruit native to the Middle East, is rich in anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity and is effective against tumors in mouse skin. In fact, pomegranate juice has higher anti-oxidant activity than do red wine and green tea, both of which appear promising as anti-cancer agents.

The UW research team aimed to find out if the extract from pomegranates would not only kill existing cancer, but help prevent cancer from starting or progressing. Using human prostate cancer cells, the team first evaluated the fruit extract's effect, at various doses, on those cells cultured in laboratory dishes. They found a "dose-dependent" effect - in other words, the higher the dose of pomegranate extract the cells received, the more cells died.

The research team then progressed to tests in mice that had been injected with prostate cancer cells from humans and developed malignancies. The 24 mice were randomly divided into three groups. The control group received normal drinking water, while the animals in the second and third groups had their drinking water supplemented with .1 percent and .2 percent pomegranate extract respectively. The doses for the mice were chosen to parallel how much pomegranate juice a typical healthy human might be willing to eat or drink daily.

The results were dramatic: the mice receiving the higher concentration of pomegranate extract showed significant slowing of their cancer progression and a decrease in the levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a marker used to indicate the presence of prostate cancer in humans. The animals that received only water had tumors that grew much faster than those in the animals treated with pomegranate extract.

"Our study - while early -- adds to growing evidence that pomegranates contain very powerful agents against cancer, particularly prostate cancer," says lead author Dr. Hasan Mukhtar, professor of dermatology in the UW Medical School. "There is good reason now to test this fruit in humans - both for cancer prevention and for treatment."

The next step in the evaluation of pomegranates for cancer prevention and treatment is to conduct tests in humans, according to Mukhtar.

Pomegranate fruit juice for chemoprevention and chemotherapy of prostate cancer

( apoptosis | cell cycle | prostate-specific antigen | androgen receptor )

Arshi Malik, Farrukh Afaq, Sami Sarfaraz, Vaqar M. Adhami, Deeba N. Syed, and Hasan Mukhtar *

Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706

Edited by Louis J. Ignarro, University of California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA,

Prostate cancer is the most common invasive malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among U.S. males, with a similar trend in many Western countries. One approach to control this malignancy is its prevention through the use of agents present in diet consumed by humans. Pomegranate from the tree Punica granatum possesses strong antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. We recently showed that pomegranate fruit extract (PFE) possesses remarkable antitumor-promoting effects in mouse skin. In this study, employing human prostate cancer cells, we evaluated the antiproliferative and proapoptotic properties of PFE. PFE (10-100 µg/ml; 48 h) treatment of highly aggressive human prostate cancer PC3 cells resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth/cell viability and induction of apoptosis. Immunoblot analysis revealed that PFE treatment of PC3 cells resulted in (i) induction of Bax and Bak (proapoptotic); (ii) down-regulation of Bcl-X_L and Bcl-2 (antiapoptotic); (iii) induction of WAF1/p21 and KIP1/p27; (iv) a decrease in cyclins D1, D2, and E; and (v) a decrease in cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) 2, cdk4, and cdk6 expression. These data establish the involvement of the cyclin kinase inhibitor-cyclin-cdk network during the antiproliferative effects of PFE. Oral administration of PFE (0.1% and 0.2%, wt/vol) to athymic nude mice implanted with androgen-sensitive CWR22R1 cells resulted in a significant inhibition in tumor growth concomitant with a significant decrease in serum prostate-specific antigen levels. We suggest that pomegranate juice may have cancer-chemopreventive as well as cancer-chemotherapeutic effects against prostate cancer in humans. ( Okt. 2005)