Carcinogenesis Advance Access published online on April 14, 2005
Carcinogenesis, doi:10.1093/carcin/bgi089
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Division of Basic Research, South Carolina Cancer Center, 14 Medical Park, Suite 500 Columbia, SC 29203, U.S.A
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. It is estimated that one third of Americans use dietary herbal supplements on a regular basis. Diets rich in bioactive phytochemicals are associated with reduced risk of certain cancers, notably, colon cancer. Herbal supplements have not been directly tested as sources of bioactive cancer preventives. Hence, this study compares the ability of four herbal flavonoids (quercetin, curcumin, rutin, and silymarin) and one whole herb mixture (ginseng powder) to suppress aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in an azoxymethane (AOM)-induced rat colon cancer model. Second, this study examines the effect of these herbal compounds on apoptosis and the mechanisms by which these compounds evoke apoptosis. The results of this study show that diets containing quercetin, curcumin, silymarin, ginseng and rutin decreased the number of ACFs by 4, 2, 1.8, 1.5, and 1.2 fold compared to control, respectively. Histological analysis of the colon mucosa revealed that all of the herbal supplements, except silymarin, induced apoptosis, with quercetin being the most potent (3X increase compared to control). Furthermore, ginseng and curcumin were region-specific in inducing apoptosis. The ability of quercetin and curcumin to modulate ACFs correlates well with their ability to induce apoptosis. Western blot analysis of caspase-9, Bax (proapoptotic) and bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic) proteins from the colon scraping suggests that quercetin and curcumin induces apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that these herbal supplements may exert significant and potentially beneficial effects on decreasing the amount of precancerous lesions and inducing apoptosis in the large intestine.
Received May 19, 2004
Revised March 18, 2005
Accepted March 29, 2005
CARCINOGENESIS
Modulation of aberrant crypt foci and apoptosis by dietary herbal supplements (quercetin, curcumin, silymarin, ginseng and rutin)
Michael J. Wargovich, E-mail: michael.wargovich{at}palmettohealth.org
Abstract 
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. A. Satia, A. Littman, C. G. Slatore, J. A. Galanko, and E. White Associations of Herbal and Specialty Supplements with Lung and Colorectal Cancer Risk in the VITamins And Lifestyle Study Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., May 1, 2009; 18(5): 1419 - 1428. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 B. Velmurugan, R. P. Singh, A. Tyagi, and R. Agarwal Inhibition of Azoxymethane-Induced Colonic Aberrant Crypt Foci Formation by Silibinin in Male Fisher 344 Rats Cancer Prevention Research, October 1, 2008; 1(5): 376 - 384. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Bobe, L. B. Sansbury, P. S. Albert, A. J. Cross, L. Kahle, J. Ashby, M. L. Slattery, B. Caan, E. Paskett, F. Iber, et al. Dietary Flavonoids and Colorectal Adenoma Recurrence in the Polyp Prevention Trial Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., June 1, 2008; 17(6): 1344 - 1353. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Y. Issa, S. R. Volate, S. J. Muga, D. Nitcheva, T. Smith, and M. J. Wargovich Green tea selectively targets initial stages of intestinal carcinogenesis in the AOM-ApcMin mouse model Carcinogenesis, September 1, 2007; 28(9): 1978 - 1984. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. C. Comelli, U. Mengs, C. Schneider, and M. Prosdocimi Toward the Definition of the Mechanism of Action of Silymarin: Activities Related to Cellular Protection From Toxic Damage Induced by Chemotherapy Integr Cancer Ther, June 1, 2007; 6(2): 120 - 129. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Deep and R. Agarwal Chemopreventive Efficacy of Silymarin in Skin and Prostate Cancer Integr Cancer Ther, June 1, 2007; 6(2): 130 - 145. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. Theodoratou, J. Kyle, R. Cetnarskyj, S. M. Farrington, A. Tenesa, R. Barnetson, M. Porteous, M. Dunlop, and H. Campbell Dietary Flavonoids and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., April 1, 2007; 16(4): 684 - 693. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. J. Hofseth and M. J. Wargovich Inflammation, Cancer, and Targets of Ginseng J. Nutr., January 1, 2007; 137(1): 183S - 185S. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. C. Neto Cranberry and Its Phytochemicals: A Review of In Vitro Anticancer Studies J. Nutr., January 1, 2007; 137(1): 186S - 193S. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. Hoh, D. Boocock, T. Marczylo, R. Singh, D. P. Berry, A. R. Dennison, D. Hemingway, A. Miller, K. West, S. Euden, et al. Pilot Study of Oral Silibinin, a Putative Chemopreventive Agent, in Colorectal Cancer Patients: Silibinin Levels in Plasma, Colorectum, and Liver and Their Pharmacodynamic Consequences. Clin. Cancer Res., May 1, 2006; 12(9): 2944 - 2950. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|