Herbal Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, the Anti Endometrial Cancer Functional Remedy

By Kyle J. Norton

Scientists may have found a medicinal plant for the prevention and treatment of endometrial cancer with no side effects, according to the study

The endometrium is the inner lining of the mammalian uterus and very susceptible hormone change, particularly in the menstrual cycle.

Endometrial cancer is a late adulthood cancer characterized by cells growth irregularly in the tissue of the endometrium.

Most cases of endometrial cancer start in the cells on the surface of the inner lining of the endometrium. At the 0 stage, due to the small size of the tumor, most patients do not experience any symptoms.

However, at the later stage,  the large tumor can suppress to the nearby blood vessels and nerve cells, leading to bleeding and severe localized pain.

At this stage, cancer cells in the endometrium can also travel a distance away from the endometrium to infect other healthy tissue and organs, leading to a secondary metastasis. According to statistic, endometrial cancer metastasizes to the lungs 20–25% of the time, more than any other gynecologic cancer.

The cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women overall, after breast cancer, lung cancer, and bowel cancer. However, in the US, endometrial cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs. Every year, approximately over About 63,000 new cases of uterus cancer are diagnosed, causing the death of 11,000 women.

The 5-year survival rates for white and black women with the disease are 84% and 62% respectively. 

At the invasive stage, the survival rate is 16%.

Epidemiological studies suggested the increase in age, family history, certain medical conditions such as diabetes, diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer and endometrial hyperplasia in the past are associated with the onset of the diseases.

Some researchers suggested that a poor diet is a critical risk factor of endometrial cancer. Dr. Fulvio Ricceri and colleagues in the review of diet and endometrial cancer, wrote, "Women in the highest quintile of vegetable intake had a statistically significantly lower endometrial cancer risk. Women with high adherence to the MD had a risk of endometrial cancer that was about half that of women with low adherence to the MD.

And, " high vegetable intake, adherence to the MD, and a low DII are related to lower endometrial cancer risk, with several putative connected biological mechanisms that strengthen the biological plausibility of this association".

These results strongly suggested the risk of endometrial cancer is reduced by many folds for women who follow a healthy diet with high fruits and vegetable and low saturated and trans fat, red meat and processed foods.

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is one of the species of Bearberry, in the genus Arctostaphylos, belonging to the family Ericaceae, native to northern North America, Asia, and Europe.

The herb has been used in traditional medicine as a diuretic agent and to treat urinary problems, including bladder infections, kidney infection, kidney stone, pelvic pain, etc.

The herbal plant contains arbutin, ursolic acid, tannic acid, gallic acid, some essential oil and resin, hydroquinones tannins, phenolic glycosides, and flavones.

With an aim to find a natural ingredient for the treatment of endometrial cancer with no side effect, researchers at the Fujita Health University examined the ursolic acid, a pentacyclic triterpene acid, extracted from bearberry in the growth of endometrial cancer cell SNG-II.

Ursolic acid strongly inhibited the growth of SNG-II cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner.

The chemical compound induced cancer cells apoptosis through cell degradation.

At the At 25 and 50 microM strength, ursolic acid induced marked increases in caspase-3 activity associated with cells apoptosis to approximately 5-fold that of control cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner.

Ursolic acid treatment also resulted in cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, the enzyme involved in many functions of the cell, including the repair of DNA damage.

Interestingly, after ursolic acid treatment, the levels of proteins involved anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2 protein) was decreased and tumor suppression (Bax expression) was enhanced.

Dr. the lead scientist said, "ursolic acid induced apoptotic processes in the endometrial cancer SNG-II cell line through mechanisms involving mitochondrial pathways and Bcl-2 family proteins".

Additionally, the evaluated ursolic acid effect in the growth of HEC108 cells showed that ursolic acid induced cancer cells apoptosis through several mechanisms, including
* Inducing cancer cells degradation.

*Similar to that of endometrial cell SNG-II cells, ursolic acid-treated HEC108 cells showed that exposure at 50, 75 or 100 microM induced marked increases protein associated with the pro-apoptotic activity (after 24 h) to 5.00, 11.76 or 12.75 times that of control levels. These results indicated Levels of the pro-apoptotic activity (cleaved caspase-3) increased in a time- and dose-dependent manner. 

* Similar to that of endometrial cell SNG-II cells, ursolic acid treatment also resulted in cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase in a dose-dependent manner.

Finally, researchers also showed that after ursolic acid treatment, the levels of proteins involved anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2 protein) was decreased and tumor suppression (Bax expression) was enhanced similar to that of the SNG-II cells.

Taken together, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi processed high amount ursolic acid may be considered a functional remedy for the prevention and combined with primary therapy for the treatment of endometrial 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) Molecular mechanism of ursolic acid induced apoptosis in poorly differentiated endometrial cancer HEC108 cells by Achiwa Y, Hasegawa K, Udagawa Y.(PubMed)
(2) Ursolic acid induces Bax-dependent apoptosis through the caspase-3 pathway in endometrial cancer SNG-II cells by Achiwa Y, Hasegawa K, Komiya T, Udagawa Y.(PubMed)
(3) Diet and endometrial cancer: a focus on the role of fruit and vegetable intake, Mediterranean diet and dietary inflammatory index in the endometrial cancer risk by Fulvio Ricceri,1,2 Maria Teresa Giraudo,3 Francesca Fasanelli,4 Dario Milanese,3Veronica Sciannameo,2 Laura Fiorini,4 and Carlotta Sacerdote. (PMC)