The isothiocyanates in broccoli and kindred vegetables cause the death of malignant tumor cells in human body

Sep 18, 2006 07:35 GMT  ·  By

Cruciferous vegetables - such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, watercress, radish, horseradish - were found to be very efficient against cancer, due to specific compounds which cause cancer cells in human body to self-destruct. Researchers at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago showed that the particular green vegetables contain chemicals called isothiocyanates which work better than most of the drugs at annihilating cancer cells in the body.

Writing in the American journal Cancer Research, scientists involved in the study highlighted the fact that compounds in cruciferous vegetables are very effective, even against cancer cells containing high levels of Bcl-2 protein, which are usually drug resistant. The higher the level of Bcl-2 protein in a cancer cell, the more difficult the destruction of the cell by any medical treatment developed by medical experts.

"The reason the Bcl-2 protein is dangerous is that it makes cells resistant to the normal cell-suicide or apoptosis process, that is vital for removing damaged cells from the body. A cancer cell with a lot of Bcl-2 has increased resistance to chemotherapy drugs that are used to destroy the tumor. We've found that Bcl-2 can't protect cancer cells against certain isothiocyanates," pointed out lead author of the study Dr. Mark Hampton, from the Free Radical Research Group.

The fact that the isothiocyanates compounds in broccoli and other similar vegetables were very efficient against Bcl-2 protein cancer cells offers new hopes for cancer treatments and may lead to the developing of a new generation of medications. Researchers who carried out the study are confident that the discovery will be used for designing isothiocyanates-based cancer drugs. What is more promising is that the new type of chemotherapy medications will kill malignant tumor cells in human body, but will not affect healthy cells, causing therefore no side effects.

"This has provided us with a very valuable clue. Isothiocyanates alter many different proteins in a cell, but by focusing on proteins that are only modified by the isothiocyanates that kill the cancer cells, we have discovered a protein that could potentially control cell death," concluded the University of Otago scientists.