Cranberries Might Boost Chemo's Power
In the lab, juice proves strong against ovarian cancer

(HealthDay News) -- Could something as simple as drinking a glass of cranberry juice help chemotherapy drugs do a better job?

Possibly, according to researchers from Rutgers University , who presented their findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston .

When the researchers pre-treated ovarian cancer tumor cells with cranberry juice, the cancer-killing drugs' power was increased six times over.

"This was surprising and encouraging," said lead researcher Ajay P. Singh of Rutgers University . "We don't consider cranberries to be a drug, but cranberries are already very well-known to have antioxidants that boost the immune system and body strength, prevent urinary tract infection and help fight cardiovascular disease. So, we knew that cranberries would certainly not harm cancer patients.

"And now we found that they actually increase sensitivity to chemo severalfold," said Singh, a research associate and natural products chemist in the Department of Plant Biology and Plant Pathology at Rutgers .

Although ovarian cancer accounts for just 3 percent of all cancers in women, it causes more deaths than any other gynecological cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC estimates that about 21,000 American women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and the risk of the disease increases with age. Most women -- around 90 percent -- are older than 40 when diagnosed, and many are over 55 at the time of diagnosis, according to the CDC.

Singh and his colleagues collected ovarian cancer cells that were already resistant to standard platinum-based chemotherapy drugs. Then, using a purified extract from store-bought cranberry juice containing 27 percent juice, the researchers exposed the cancer cells to the juice. The researchers varied the doses, but the most used in any one experiment was about one cup of juice.

After exposing the cells to the juice, the researchers then treated the cells with paraplatin, a platinum-based chemotherapy. Pre-treated cells died off at a rate that was sixfold stronger than the unexposed cancer cells. The treated cells also seemed to slow the growth and spread of some of the cancer cells.

Singh pointed out that despite the promising results, no one should consider cranberry juice a drug for treating cancer. There may be an adjunct role for compounds found in the berries, he said, but the work is only in its preliminary stages.

Dr. Robert Morgan Jr., co-director of gynecological oncology at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte , Calif. , seemed to agree.

"I think this is a very fertile and promising branch of research," Morgan told HealthDay . "But one needs to make sure this is proven in clinical trials, and you'd need to be sure about the levels of the compound needed and which active agent in the cranberry juice is actually causing this increase in sensitivity.

"Of course, cranberries are non-toxic, and the compounds they contain are part of the family of flavonoids found in grape seeds, which have been shown to be potentially beneficial in breast cancer, so there's certainly no risk of harm here," he said. "There's just a lot more research that needs to be done."

On the Web

To learn more about ovarian cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Ajay P. Singh, Ph.D., research associate and natural products chemist, Department of Plant Biology and Plant Pathology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.; Robert Morgan Jr., M.D., co-director, Gynecological Oncology/Peritoneal Malignancy Program, City of Hope Cancer Center, Duarte, Calif.; Aug. 21, 2007, presentation, American Chemical Society national meeting, Boston; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov)
Author: Serena Gordon
Publication Date: Aug. 31, 2008
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