Chinese Remedy for Breast Cancer Prevention
Reported December 27, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — People have used the sweet wormwood plant to fight malaria, a mosquito borne disease, since ancient times. Now, new research reveals a chemical from the plant may be a powerful breast cancer prevention treatment.
Bioengineers from University of Washington in Seattle tested the chemical, artemisinin, on rats that had been given a breast cancer-causing agent. They found giving the sweet wormwood derivative to the rats appeared to cut down on the number of tumors.
Researchers say artemisinin works because of how it reacts to iron. The chemical reaction creates free radicals that destroy cells. The parasite that causes malaria stores excess iron and is killed when host humans consume artemisinin.
Cancer and pre-cancerous cells multiply rapidly and have a high rate of iron uptake. This characteristic allows the artemisinin to selectively target and kill the cancer cells.
For this study, researchers gave a substance known to induce multiple breast cancer tumors to rats. Half of the rats in the study were given food with .02 percent artemisinin added.
Of the rats not fed artemisinin, 96 percent developed tumors. The rats that did receive the chemical had only a 57 percent rate of developing tumors. Researchers also say the tumors that did develop in the artemisinin rats were fewer and smaller in size than in the other group.
This chemical is widely used in Asia and Africa as an anti-malarial. Investigators note it has a reputation for being safe and having no side effects.
According to researchers, more studies will be needed to see if the artemisinin can be used to prevent other types of cancers.
SOURCE: Cancer Letters, 2006; 231:43-48