One of the problems with chemotherapy is that the treatment can often induce drug resistance and enrich cancerous stem cells in many types of cancer. A new study conducted by Deyong Jia at University of Ottawa, Canada and colleagues suggests that cardamonin can help kill chemotherapy-enriched breast cancer stem-like cells both in vitro and in vivo.
Existence of cancerous stem cells is why breast cancer and other types of malignancy can recur and pose a even more life-threatening risk to the patient. This study for the first time demonstrates that cardamonin selectively inhibits breast cancer cells enriched by chemotherapeutical medications.
When used as an adjuvant therapy, the study finds cardamonin together with chemotherapy drugs helped prevent the enrichment of breast cancer stem cells.
The anticancer property of cardamonin was also demonstrated in a xenograft mouse model of breast cancer. In the study, cardamonin and chemotherapy drug doxorubicin were found to be able to significantly slow the tumor growth and decrease the enrichment of breast cancer stem-like cells.
The study concludes that cardamonin can be used as an adjuvant therapy to help chemotherapeutic drugs to prevent drug resistance and enhance the therapeutic effect against breast cancer.
Cardamonin is a naturally occuring compound found in many plants. It has been known for its antiinflammatory, antineoplastic and antioxidant properties among other properties. (David Liu)
Comments