Herbal Cascara Sagrada's Emodin, the Anti Breast Cancer Bioactive Compound

By Kyle J. Norton

Scientists may have found a natural ingredient isolated from a herbal plant which processes a significant effect in reducing risk and treatment of breast cancer, some studies suggested.

Breast cancer (malignant breast neoplasm) is a medical and chronic condition characterized by irregular cells growth in the breast tissue.

Most cases of breast cancer start either in the cells on the surface of the inner lining of milk ducts (Ductal carcinoma) or the lobules (Lobular carcinoma) that supply the ducts with milk.

There are also rare cases of breast cancer that start in other areas of the breast

The cause of breast cancer is the result of the alternation of DNA of the cells in the breast.

According to statistic, in 2010, over 250,000 new cases of breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the US alone and the risk of getting invasive breast cancer during the lifetime of a woman is 1/8.

Genetic preposition, one of the prevalent risk factor associated with the increased risk of breast cancer has been under intensifying study in scientists over the world over a few decades ago, suggested that women who carry the mutated genes BRCA1 and 2 have 60%  most likely risk to develop breast cancer before the age of 70.

Another prevalent and most mentioned risk factor associated with the risk of the disease is obesity.

Dr. Manuel Picon‐Ruiz, the lead author, in the concern of the correlated increased incidence of breast cancer among obese women launched an investigation to examine whether obesity is associated both with a higher risk of developing breast cancer, particularly in postmenopausal women, and with worse disease outcome for women of all ages.

After taking into account co and confounder, the doctors wrote, "The Million Women Study followed 1.2 million UK women ages 50 to 64 years for a mean of 5.4 years, including 45,037 with breast cancer, and identified a nearly 30% higher risk of developing postmenopausal breast cancer with obesity". and "(But) a large body of evidence indicates that, although obesity is inversely associated with receptor‐positive breast cancer development before menopause".

Interestingly, the results strongly indicated, obesity is a risk factor of breast cancer in postmenopause but a reduced risk factor before menopause.

Cascara sagrada is a species of buckthorn, genus Rhamnus, belonging to the family Rhamnaceae, native to western North America.

The herbal plant bark has been used in traditional medicine for gastrointestinal support. and it is thought to have a laxative and natural cleansing, etc., effect.


Besides the main compound of anthraquinones, the herb also contains anthraquinone glycosides, (emodin, frangulin, iso-emodin, aloe-emodin, and chrysophanol), rhein, aloin, malic acid, tannic acid, cascarosides A, B, C, and D, and hydroxy anthracene derivatives (HAD), etc.

In the finding a natural compound or whole food which process the potency for the treatment of breast cancer with little or no side effects compared to those of conventional chemo drug, researchers conducted a joint study led by the China Medical University to examine the anti-breast cancer effect of Emodin.

Human breast cancer cells Bcap-37 and ZR-75-30.were used in the study

The cell viability following emodin treatment was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.

Application of Emodin showed a strong effect in the inhibition of the growth and induction of apoptosis of breast cancer cells Bcap-37 and ZR-75-30 in a time- and dose-dependent manner. 

The inhibitory activity was attributed to Emodin in reducing the level of a protein associated with inhibiting apoptosis and promoting oncogenesis, and proteins and antibodies associated with programming cell death and enhancing apoptosis.

Dr. CONG ZU the lead scientist, after taking into account co and confounders said, "These findings indicate that emodin induces growth inhibition and apoptosis in human breast cancer cells. Emodin may be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of breast cancer".

In mice bearing EO771 or 4T1 breast tumors, researchers at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine examine the effects of Emodin against breast cancer through varied mechanisms.

Application of Emodin showed a significant effect in the attenuation tumor growth by inhibiting macrophage infiltration and M2-like polarization, in promoting cancer cell growth, invasion, metastasis and accompanied by increased immune white blood cells in the host and reduced the new formation of blood vessels for the cancer proliferation.

The inhibition of the promotion of cancer cell growth, invasion, metastasis by emodin was associated with deactivation of genes on the promoters of M2-related genes in tumor-associated macrophages.

Dr. Iwanowycz S, at the final report, "emodin acts on both breast cancer cells and macrophages and effectively blocks the tumor-promoting feedforward loop between the two cell types, thereby inhibiting breast cancer growth and metastasis".

Taken altogether, Herbal Cascara Sagrada processed abundant bioactive compound Emodin may be considered a functional herb for the prevention and an adjunct therapy combined with the primary medicine for the treatment of breast cancer.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References
(1) Emodin induces apoptosis of human breast cancer cells by modulating the expression of apoptosis-related genes by CONG ZU,1,* MINGDI ZHANG,2,* HUI XUE,3 XIAOPENG CAI,4 LEI ZHAO,5 ANNING HE,1GUANGYUAN QIN,1 CHUNSHU YANG,1 and XINYU ZHENG. (PMC)
(2) Obesity and adverse breast cancer risk and outcome: Mechanistic insights and strategies for intervention by Manuel Picon‐Ruiz, Ph.D., 1 Cynthia Morata‐Tarifa, PhD, 2 Janeiro J. Valle‐Goffin, MD, 3Eitan R. Friedman, MD, 4 and Joyce M. Slingerland, MD, Ph.D. (PMC)
(3) Emodin Inhibits Breast Cancer Growth by Blocking the Tumor-Promoting Feedforward Loop between Cancer Cells and Macrophages by Iwanowycz S1, Wang J1, Hodge J1, Wang Y1, Yu F2, Fan D. (PubMed).