Cardamonin — a natural compound found in spice cardamom and other herbs — may have the potential to cure triple breast cancer, according to a new study using human cancer cells. The findings also show that the compound targets the gene that helps cancer cells to flee their immune system.
Related: Breastfeeding mother at risk of Breast cancer|Breast cancer awareness| Breast cancer symptoms.
About 10-15% of breast cancers are triple, meaning they do not have estrogen or progesterone receptors and do not make excessive amounts of a protein called HER2. These tumors are difficult to treat because they do not respond to hormone-based treatments for other types of breast cancer. They are also more aggressive and have a higher mortality rate than other types of breast cancer.
"It has been a challenge to develop a targeted therapeutic approach to triple breast cancer that is safe and effective at the same time," said Patricia Mendonca, Ph.D., assistant professor, and research analyst at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. "Because of this, there is an urgent need to investigate medicinal plants as a new way to fight this cancer."
Mendonca will present a new study at the annual meeting of the American Society for Investigative Pathology during the Experimental Biology (EB) 2022 conference, to be held April 2-5 in Philadelphia.
Related: Breastfeeding mother at risk of Breast cancer|Breast cancer awareness| Breast cancer symptoms.
"The fact that cardamonin has been used for centuries as a spice and, more recently, as a supplement shows that its intake is safe and may have health benefits," Mendonca said. "Our research shows that cardamonin has the potential to improve cancer treatment without side effects like other chemotherapeutic agents."
In a new study, researchers investigated how cardamonin affected the genetic expression of cell ligand 1 (PD-L1), found in tumor cells. PD-L1 is particularly prominent during breast cancer development and plays a key role in helping breast cancer cells to defend their immune system.
Researchers have used two lines of breast cancer cells that have three genes - one taken from African American American women and the other from European (Caucasian) women. They found that cardamonin treatment caused a dose-dependent decrease in cell function in both cell lines. It also reduced the expression of PD-L1 in the Caucasian cell line but not the African American cell line, suggesting that cells from different races may respond differently to cardamonin due to genetic differences between races.
"This is the first study to explain the effect of cardamonin on the inhibition of PD-L1, which is effective in treating triple breast cancer," said Mendonca. "These findings add support to other studies that have shown differences in tumor microenvironment between Africans and non-African Americans."
Related: Breastfeeding mother at risk of Breast cancer|Breast cancer awareness| Breast cancer symptoms.
Researchers warn that the study is still ongoing. They plan to do more studies on both cells and animals to ensure the effectiveness of this ingredient before it is tested in humans. They also want to explore other possible mechanisms involved in the anti-cancer products of cardamonin.
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