Peaches, Plums, Found to Kill Most Aggressive Type of Breast Cancer Cells
News Release (June 7, 2010)
(College Station, Texas)—Breast cancer cells—even the most aggressive type—died after treatments with
peach and plum extracts in lab tests at Texas AgriLife Research recently, and scientists say the results are deliciously
promising. Not only did the cancerous cells keel over, but the normal cells were not harmed in the process.
AgriLife Research scientists say two phenolic compounds are responsible for the cancer cell deaths in the study, which
was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. The phenols are organic compounds that occur in fruits.
They are slightly acidic and may be associated with traits such as aroma, taste or color.
"It
was a differential effect which is what you're looking for because in current cancer treatment with chemotherapy, the
substance kills all cells, so it is really tough on the body," said Dr. David Byrne, AgriLife Research plant breeder who
studies stone fruit. "Here, there is a five-fold difference in the toxic intensity. You can put it at a level where it
will kill the cancer cells—the very aggressive ones—and not the normal ones."
Byrne and Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallos originally studied the antioxidants and phytonutrients in plums
and found them to match or exceed the blueberry which had been considered superior to other fruits in those categories.
"The following step was to choose some of these high antioxidant commercial varieties and study their
anticancer properties," Cisneros-Zevallos said. "And we chose breast cancer as the target because it's one of the
cancers with highest incidence among women. So it is of big concern."
Cisneros-Zevallos, an AgriLife Research food scientist, said the team compared normal cells to two
types of breast cancer, including the most aggressive type. The cells were treated with an extract from two commercial
varieties, the "Rich Lady" peach and the "Black Splendor" plum.
"These extracts killed the cancer cells but not the normal cells," Cisneros-Zevallos said.
A closer look at the extracts determined that two specific phenolic acid components—chlorogenic and
neochlorogenic—were responsible for killing the cancer cells while not affecting the normal cells, Cisneros-Zevallos
said.
The two compounds are very common in fruits, the researchers said, but the stone fruits such as plums
and peaches have especially high levels.
"So this is very, very attractive from the point of view of being an alternative to typical
chemotherapy which kills normal cells along with cancerous ones," Byrne added.
The team said laboratory tests also confirmed that the compounds prevented cancer from growing in
animals given the compounds.
Byrne plans to examine more fully the lines of the varieties that were tested to see how these
compounds might be incorporated into his research of breeding plums and peaches. Cisneros-Zevallos will continue testing
these extracts and compounds in different types of cancer and conduct further studies of the molecular mechanisms
involved.
Source:
EurekAlert -
Texas A & M
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