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16.08.2021

There are tumor inhibitors in lovage

In thousands of gardens you may find lovage. The leaves enhance the flavor of soups and sauces, but also contain substances that can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Researchers from Iran suspect that lovage contains a future drug against difficult-to-treat types of breast cancer.

Study
The researchers, affiliated with Zahedan University in Iran, exposed breast cancer cells in vitro to alcohol extracts from lovage (scientific name: Levisticum officinale). Lovage originates from Iran.

For centuries, people have used lovage as a spice and as a medicinal herb. Lovage stimulates the appetite, and according to traditional healers, it could help get rid of kidney stones faster, reduce sore throats, headaches and joint pain and allow wounds to heal faster. Studies suggest that lovage has antioxidant, diuretic, anti-inflammatory and bactericidal properties.

Results
Lovage extracts reduced the vitality of the breast cancer cells. Those effects were more pronounced in the MDA-MB-468 cells than in the MCF-7 cells.

Click on the figures below for a larger version.

Lovage also increased the number of breast cancer cells that died. That effect was also stronger in the MDA-MB-468 cells than in the MCF-7 cells.

MCF-7 cells resemble the most common breast cancer types. It is a hormone-sensitive breast cancer cell that is sensitive to estradiol, which often responds well to anti-oestrogens.

MDA-MB-468 cells are not sensitive to estradiol, nor to progesterone. They therefore do not respond to treatment with hormone inhibitors. This cell type resembles the difficult-to-treat breast cancer types that may develop in the later stages of breast cancer, as the cells learn how to break through oncological regimens.

Mechanism
Lovage inhibited the PDE-5 enzyme in the cancer cells. The activity of this enzyme is increased in a number of cancer cell types. PDE-5 deactivates the second messenger cGMP. Because lovage inhibits PDE-5, it increases cGMP in cells. This may cancer cells enable to switch on suicide enzymes.

Conclusion
"Levisticum officinale hydroalcoholic extract could be a novel source of drug candidates in breast cancer treatment," the researchers conclude, "especially for those types of cancer, which there are fewer treatment options and limited markers for pharmaceutical target (no hormone receptor)."

Quercetin?
The Iranian study says little about which substances in lovage may be involved in the discovered cancer-inhibiting effect, but quercetin may be one of them. In 2001 Danish food scientists determined the flavonoid composition of a number of herbs and found high concentrations of quercetin in lovage. [Food Chemistry 2001;73(2):245-50.]

Click on the table for a larger version.

Source:
Iran Biomed J. 2019 Jul;23(4):280-6.

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