Druivenpitten tegen kanker*
Uit een laboratoriumstudie blijkt dat een extract van druivenpitten kankercellen doodt. Binnen 24 uur was 76 procent van de leukemiecellen tijdens de studie gestorven, terwijl de gezonde cellen onaangetast bleven.
Het is al langer bekend dat bioactieve stoffen in druivenpitten kanker tegengaan, maar het is de eerste keer dat de impact ervan op bloedkanker werd getest.
De onderzoekers zagen dat het extract van druivenpitten een proteïne (JKN) in gang zet welke apoptose reguleert. Apoptose of geprogrammeerde celdood is een natuurlijke manier om beschadigde of gevaarlijke cellen te doden. Als de resultaten van deze laboratoriumstudie worden bevestigd in mensen kunnen druivenpitten tot nieuwe kankerbehandelingen leiden.
Grapeseed Extract Kills 76% of Leukemia Cancer Cells in 24 Hours
A new study conducted at the University of Kentucky in the United States, and published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, found that leukemia cancer cells exposed to grapeseed extract (GSE) were rapidly killed through a process of cell suicide known as
"apoptosis."
In these laboratory studies, an astonishing 76% of leukemia cells committed suicide within 24 hours thanks to the ability of GSE to activate a protein called JNK, which regulates
apoptosis.
In a healthy person, cancer cell apoptosis is a normal, healthy part of biology. Every living system creates cancerous cells. There are hundreds or thousands of "microtumors" in every human being living today, but cancerous cells in healthy people destroy themselves once they realize they're flawed. This cellular "realization," however, requires healthy cell communication, and that's dependent on the correct nutrients, minerals and proteins being available in the body.
Grapeseed extract appears to accelerate this process in cancer cells, helping them more rapidly assess their own flawed state so they can engage in apoptosis (cell suicide), thus protecting the larger organism (the body).
It's important to note that this recent study was conducted in a lab, not in human beings, so its conclusions cannot necessarily be directly translated into saying something like "grapeseed extract cures cancer," for example. However, it does indicate quite convincingly that if the unique phytochemical molecules found in grapeseed extract can be delivered to leukemia cells with sufficient potency, they may play an important role in cancer cells destroying themselves, thereby protecting the whole organism from runaway cancer.
If the results demonstrated in the labs at the University of Kentucky can be replicated in humans, it could potentially position grapeseed extract as a powerful natural chemotherapeutic agent.
Grapeseed extract has been studied and demonstrated to be remarkably effective at killing cancer cells for many different types of cancer, by the way, including cancers of the breast, prostate, lung, skin bowel and stomach.
Another important finding in the University of Kentucky study is that the grapeseed extract was not toxic to normal, healthy cells even as it helped cancer cells commit
suicide.
As Professor Xianglin Shi, the lead researcher of the study, said in a BBC article: "These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grapeseed extract into prevention or treatment of haematological (blood) malignancies and possibly other cancers. ...What everyone seeks is an agent that has an effect on cancer cells but leaves normal cells alone, and this shows that grapeseed extract fits into this
category."
In other words, grapeseed extract is now a candidate for a natural chemotherapeutic agent.
(December
2008)
