Vitamin K3 may help fight breast cancer - study

Vitamin k3 may be used to treat breast cancer, according to a new study published in the Dec 2009 issue of Cancer and chemotherapy and pharmacology.

In the study, T. Akiyoshi and colleagues from Keio University in Japan tested vitamin k3 in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7.

The researchers found that vitamin k3 exhibited cytotoxicity that caused DNA fragmentation in the breast cancer cell line.

Specifically they found vitamin K3 caused mitochondrial dysfunction including a disappearance of mitochondrial membrane potential.

Further Akiyoshi and colleagues found the mitochondrial damage was induced by the reactive oxygen species generated in a process involving vitamin k3 and the activation of caspase-7 and -9.

The researchers conclude that "Our findings demonstrate that VK(3)-induced apoptosis is selectively initiated by the mitochondria-related pathway and might be useful in breast cancer chemotherapy."

By David Liu davidl at foodconsumer.org