University of California, Riverside researchers have identified key components in pomegranate juice that they say prevents prostate cancer from spreading to the bones. While the results are early, Manuela Martins-Green, PhD, a professor of cell biology at UCR believes the finding could lead to new drug therapies to fight cancer.
Martins-Green and her research team found pomegranate juice components seem to inhibit cancer cells movement and weaken their attraction to a chemical signal shown to promote prostate cancer to metastasize. According to the National Cancer Institute, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime.
The Martins-Green lab at UCR applied pomegranate juice compounds on laboratory-cultured prostate cancer cells that were resistant to testosterone. Previous research has shown cancer cells resistant to the hormone testosterone are more prone to metastasis.
The researchers noted not only increased cell death among the pomegranate juice-treated tumor cells, but also increased cell adhesion and decreased cell migration in those cancer cells that had not died.
The study’s findings were presented December 12, 2010 at the American Society for Cell Biology’s 50th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
Next the lab analyzed the fruit juice to identify the active ingredients—phenylpropanoids, hydrobenzoic acids, flavones and conjugated fatty acids—that had a molecular impact on cell adhesion and migration in metastatic prostate cancer cells.
“This is particularly exciting because we can now modify these naturally occurring cancer-inhibiting components to improve their functions, leading to more effective drug therapies in preventing metastasis,” said Martins-Green. “Moreover, the genes and proteins involved in movement of prostate cancer cells are essentially the same as those involved in of other types of cancer cell migration, so the same modified components could have a much broader impact in cancer treatment,” she said.
The researchers plan additional testing on two types of laboratory-cultured prostate cancer cells to determine dose-dependent effects and side effects.
The effect, if any, of pomegranate juice on the progression of prostate cancer remains controversial for now.
In a 2006 study of prostate cancer patients who daily drank an eight-ounce glass of pomegranate juice, UCLA researchers detected a decline in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels that suggested a potential slowing of cancer progression.
The UCLA researchers did not try to define the potential biological mechanism behind pomegranate juice's effects in the study.
In Sept. 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit against Pom Wonderful, the natural foods company that provided the pomegranate juice for the UCLA research and has supported other research on pomegranate juice.
The FTC charged the company with “making false and unsubstantiated claims” that their products will prevent or treat heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction. The company’s website says it stands by the claims.
Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. In addition to writing about cancer-related issues for EmpowHer, she pens Nonsmoking Nation, a blog following global tobacco news and events