Broccoli and watercress may target cancer stem cells, according new research from South Dakota State University.
A compound and an enzyme that are found in cruciferous vegetables including broccoli, watercress, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts may help prevent the spread and recurrence of some cancers, according to associate professor Moul Dey of the South Dakota State University Department of Health and Nutritional Sciences. She has been researching the naturally occurring compound phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) through a five-year grant from the National Institutes for Health.
The compound and enzyme from the veggies are combined through chewing to create PEITC. Studies have shown that healthy levels of PEITC can be achieved through the diet alone.
When chemotherapy is used to treat cancer, the tumor dies, but the cancer stem cell survives. “These cells are frequently resistant to conventional therapies,” Dey explained.
Although cancer stem cells make up only 5 percent of the tumor, they can cause serious problems if not killed.
As noted in a Stanford Medicine paper: “Many new anti-cancer therapies are evaluated based on their ability to shrink tumors, but if the therapies are not killing the cancer stem cells, the tumor will soon grow back (often with a vexing resistance to the previously used therapy). An analogy would be a weeding technique that is evaluated based on how low it can chop the weed stalks—but no matter how low the weeks are cut, if the roots aren’t taken out, the weeds will just grow back.”
“These tiny cells are very difficult to detect in a tumor,” Dey said, mentioning that scientists for a long time did not know they existed. “It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.”
The research team treated human cervical cancer cells in a petri dish with PEITC, and about 75 percent of them died within 24 hours.
Dey and her team also found that PEITC can significantly prevent the spread of lung cancer in mice.
“Preliminary evidence has shown a quite dramatic difference between the lung sections from the PEITC-treated and untreated mice,” Dey said. However, she did note that further studies need to be conducted to find if PEITC can produce the same effects in humans.
The study showing that broccoli and watercress may target cancer stem cells was published in the journal BMC Cancer.
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REFERENCES:
1. “Plant-Derived Compound Targets Cancer Stem Cells.” Newswise. South Dakota State University, 5 May 2015. Web. 06 May 2015.
2. “Phenethyl Isothiocyanate Upregulates Death Receptors 4 and 5 and Inhibits Proliferation in Human Cancer Stem-like Cells.” BMC Cancer. BioMed Central, 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 06 May 2015.
3. “The Stem Cell Theory of Cancer.” Stanford Medicine. Stanford Medicine, n.d. Web. 06 May 2015.
