A fruit to fight breast cancer

The extract of bitter melon ( Momordica charantia ), a very common vegetable in India and China, would seem able to promote the death of breast cancer cells and prevent their proliferation. This was discovered by a group of American researchers led by Ratna Ray, a professor at the Department of Pathology at the University of Saint Louis. The study, published in the journal Cancer Research , was conducted using cultures of human tumor cells which, following the addition of bitter melon extract, showed a reduced replicative capacity and increased mortality. Although the molecular targets of Momordica charantia are not yet known, it is probable that it can interfere with the various signal transduction pathways that cause cell death. In fact, an increase in caspases (proteins that induce programmed cell death, apoptosis) and a decrease in cyclins, essential for cell replication, were found in the treated tumor cells. It is therefore probable that the bitter melon also modulates the cell cycle, that is the process by which a cell divides into two. The effects of bitter melon will now have to be studied in animal models and eventually in humans. Therefore, although the results are encouraging, the research is only at the beginning. "We will have to concentrate the studies in those populations which, despite habitually consuming bitter melon, still have a high incidence of breast cancer" explained Ray who, together with his colleagues, currently conducts studies on other cell lines examining the anti- fruit proliferative From: Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) Extract Inhibits Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation by Modulating Cell Cycle Regulatory Genes and Promotes Apoptosis Ratna B. Ray1,2, Amit Raychoudhuri1, Robert Steele1 and Pratibha Nerurkar3 Authors' Affiliations: Departments of 1 Pathology and 2 Internal Medicine, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri and 3 Laboratory of Metabolic Disorders and Alternative Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii