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2007-9-3 23:23:48 |
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A compound commonly found in spicy foods such as hot peppers may kill all types of cancer without hurting any healthy cells in humans, according to new research published in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. Scientists from the Nottingham University found that capsaicin is capable of killing a variety of cancer cells including those from pancreatic cancer, which results in the highest rate of death among all kinds of cancer. There is not much doctors can do to treat the disease. Capsaicin may be used to cure all types of cancer because it kills cancer cells by destroying the powerhouse in cancer cell mitochondria, which is common among all kinds of cancer. In the study, Dr. Timothy Bates and colleagues tested capsaicin in cultures of human lung cancer cells and pancreatic cancer cells. They found that vanilloids, the family of compounds to which capsaicin belongs, bind to protein in cancer cell mitochondria resulting in programmed cell deaths, or apoptosis. Apoptosis is a natural process in which cells are biologically programmed to die at certain time. If cells could not die as programmed at certain locus in the tissue, they could multiply indefinitely, forming a cancer mass. The researchers said that cancer cells are different from the normal cells such that the dose of capsaicin that is high enough to cause apoptosis of cancer cells does not have the same effect on the normal cells. The researchers also discovered other compounds that may be used to treat cancer, according to news reports. They are seeking industrial partners to develop commercialized anticancer drugs. |
