A berry found in North America could improve the effectiveness of cancer treatments, British researchers reveal today.
The chokeberry grows in the eastern USA in swamps and wetlands.
According to the new research, it could be given as a "nutraceutical" – a pill made from its extract – to enhance treatment.
The laboratory research, reported in the Journal of Clinical Pathology, showed that cancer cells died after 48 hours of exposure to the berry extract.
Researchers also found the berry had no impact on normal blood vessels.
Researchers at Southampton University, UK, and King’s College Hospital, London, UK, worked together on the project.
Researcher Bashir Lwaleed said he believed the findings were "very exciting."
He said: "The low doses of the extract greatly boosted the effectiveness of gemcitabine, when the two were combined. In addition, we found that lower doses of the conventional drug were needed, suggesting either that the compounds work together synergistically, or that the extract exerts a "supra-additive" effect.
"This could change the way we deal with hard to treat cancers in the future."
Cytotoxicity of gemcitabine enhanced by polphenolics from Aronia melanocarpa in pancreatic cancer cell line AsPC-1. Journal of Clinical Pathology 18 September 2014; doi:10.1136/jclinpath-2013-202075 [abstract]
Leave a Reply