HERBAL COMPOUND PROMISES
CURE FOR LIVER CANCER
A medicinal plant which
grows as weed in wastelands across India could soon provide a potent cure for
liver cancer.An interdisciplinary team of scientists from four major institutes
has reported that a compound derived from the leaves of Solanum nigrum , known
as Manithakkali in Malayalam, has remarkable efficacy in treating liver cancer.Evaluation
of the compound, a saponin named Uttroside B, has shown that it is 10 times
more effective than Sorafenib, the only drug currently available for the
treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The finding has been published in the
latest issue of Scientific
Reports , a
journal published by the Nature group.
The team has isolated the
compound from the leaves of the plant. Also known as Black nightshade,Solanum
nigrum belongs
to the family Solanaceae and is widely used in traditional medicine for various
ailments such as inflammation, jaundice, bronchitis, asthma, leprosy, and skin
disorders. It is a rich source of anticancer molecules. The team comprising
researchers from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, National Institute
for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Government Medical
College, Thiruvananthapuram, and the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, has
also found that unlike Sorafenib, the plant-based compound does not cause
noticeable side effects.Laboratory tests showed drastic inhibition of tumour
growth in mice. The team has filed for a patent on the finding and is exploring
the possibility of a tie-up with the University of Oklahoma, USA, for clinical
trials.
According to Ruby John
Anto, cancer researcher at the RGCB and a lead author of the paper, various
plant species of the Solanum family have been reported to have considerable
amount of saponins which exhibit potent activity against different cancer cell
lines. “In the present study, we found that uttroside B isolated from the
leaves of Solanum
nigrum has
maximum effect against liver cancer cells.”
Prof. john Kurakar
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