foodconsumer.org: Nigella sativa extract may prevent pancreatic cancer

Nigella sativa extract may prevent pancreatic cancer
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admin on 04/19/2009 22:28:00
 
Sunday April 19 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- A Middle Eastern herbal seed called
Nigella sativa may be used to prevent development or recurrence of pancreatic
cancer, a new study presented at the AACR 100th Annual Meeting 2009 in Denver
suggests.
The study showed that thymoquinone, a major ingredient found in the oil extract
from Nigella sativa, inhibited expression of a number of inflammatory factors
that are associated with development of pancreatic cancer.
Nigella sativa has already been found to kill pancreatic cancer cells and early
studies showed it has anti-cancer effects on prostate and colon cancers,
according to a press release by Thomas Jefferson University.
The seed and oil of the herb have been used in traditional medicine by many
Middle Eastern and Asian countries for thousands of years to treat a number of
diseases including immune and inflammatory diseases.
For the study, Dr. Hwyda Arafat at the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas
Jefferson University and the Jefferson Pancreatic, Biliary & Related Cancers
Center and colleagues compared thymoquinone and trichostatin A, which is an
inhibitor of histone deacetylases that are implicated in inflammatory associated
cancers, for their anti-inflammatory properties.
In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) cells, thymoquinone was found to
almost completely knock out the expression of several inflammatory cytokines
including TNF-alpha, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-8, Cox-2 and MCP-1, an
effect that was superior to that of trichostatin A.
The researchers found thymoquinone also inhibited the activation and synthesis
of NF-kappaB, a factor that has been implicated in inflammation-associated
cancer. NF-kappaB is activated in pancreatic cancer cells and may contribute to
pancreatic cancer’s resistance to chemotherapy.
Additionally, animal models of pancreatic cancer treated with thymoquinone had
67 percent of their tumors significantly shrunken and the levels of
pro-inflammatory cytokines in the tumors significantly reduced.
Inflammation is implicated in several solid tumor malignancies. Pancreatic
cancer, killing 32,000 people in the United States each year, has some
association with chronic pancreatitis. The researchers suggested that Nigella
sativa may help people with chronic pancreatitis and those who are at high risk
of devolvement or recurrence of pancreatic cancer.
(By David Liu, and edited by Heather Kelley)