3,3'-Diindolylmethane May Be the Potent Anti Breast Cancer Bioactive Ingredient, According to Studies

By Kyle J. Norton

3,3'-Diindolylmethane or DIM may be the next bioactive compound used for the treatment of breast cancer, according to studies.

Breast cancer is a chronic and a medical condition characterized cell growth irregularly in the breast tissue.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, besides skin cancers. Most cases of breast cancer begin in the cells of the surface of the inner lining of milk ducts (Ductal carcinoma) or the lobules (Lobular carcinoma) that supply the ducts with milk.

In 2010, over 250,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in women in the U.S. alone, leading to the death of over 41,000 women.  

The risk of getting invasive breast cancer during the lifetime of a woman is 1/8. As of today, there are more than 3.1 million breast cancer survivors in the US.

The 5 years of the survival rate of localized breast cancer is closed to 100%.

The risk factors of breast cancer can be divided into 2 groups

* Preventable risk factors include exposure to ionizing radiation, hormone replacement therapy, use of oral contraceptives, alcohol,  being obese and physical inactivity.

* Unpreventable risk factors include family and personal history, age, race, genetic preposition, dense breast, and reproductive history.

If you are at the higher risk of breast cancer, please make sure you self check your breast every month for preventive measure.

Since breast cancer is so sensitive to levels of the hormone, some scientists suggested that hormonal changes may have a critical impact on the disease.

Dr. Hindle WH in the examination of the hormonal changes in the risk of breast cancer wrote, "Nearly a dozen hormonal hypotheses of breast cancer causes have been proposed -- among them estrogen excess, low luteal-phase progestational activity, adrenal androgen deficiency, ovarian androgen excess, melatonin deficiency, prolactin excess, and thyroid insufficiency".

And, The androgen deficiency hypotheses, however, may have some bearing on premenopausal breast cancer, and the ovarian dysfunction hypothesis may have some bearing on postmenopausal breast cancer".

The results strongly indicated that the risk of breast cancer is associated with the decline production of hormones due to aging.

3,3'-Diindolylmethane or DIM are phytochemicals derived from the digestion of indole-3-carbinol, belonging to the group of Indoles, found abundantly in broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and kale, etc.

Researchers on finding a natural compound for the treatment of cancer without the development of toxic side effects and resistance to chemotherapy examined the effect of 3,3'-Diindolylmethane (DIM) on the enhancement of docetaxel (DOC) on breast cancer.

The study included the selected MDA-MB231 and Sk-BR-3 cells treated with and without 25 or 50 µM of DIM and 1 nM of DOC for 48 and 72 h.

Combining 25 µM of DIM with 1 nM DOC showed a significantly decreased cell survival by 42% in MDA-MB231 cells and 59% in Sk-BR-3 cells compared to control and the use of DIM or DOC alone.

The combination treatment increased apoptosis over 20% (p ≤ 0.01) in both cell lines, associated with decreased of proteins involved cell proliferation and survival and activation of JNK involved in the cancer cells apoptosis. 

ROS production induced cancer cells cytotoxicity were increased by 46.5% in the MDA-MB231 and 29.3% in Sk-BR-3 cells with the combination compared to DIM or DOC alone.

The overexpression of ROS was correlated with a 54% decrease in antioxidant MnSOD and 47% increase of free radicals NOX2 protein compared to the other groups.

Dr. Lanza-Jacoby S, the lead scientist concluded, "DIM enhances the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to DOC treatment by increasing ROS, which led to decreased cell survival and apoptosis".

Furthermore, in order to reveal more information about the DIM, researchers investigated the bioactive compound against HER2/neu positive breast tumors.

The differentiation included MDA-MB-435eB1 human Her2/neu breast cancer cells treated with varying concentrations of DIM and paclitaxel.

Both DIM and paclitaxel exhibited time and concentration-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation.

The combination also increased the number of apoptotic cells more than either agent alone, according to tested assays.

Moreover, the combined treatment exerted breast cancer cells apoptosis by inhibiting the proteins associated with cancer cell proliferation and survival and exhibiting the function of enzymes associated with cell death programming.

Additionally, DIM alone inhibited the cancer expression by decreasing the activation of the Her2/neu receptor and the combination decreased the activation of ERK1/ERK2 associated with cancer cell proliferation. 

The results suggested that DIM enhanced the function of chemo medicine against the development and progression of breast cancer.

Taken altogether, DIM used alone may be considered a supplement for the prevention and combined with primary therapy for treatment of breast cancer with reduced side effects, pending to the confirmation of large sample size and multicenter human study.

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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.

Sources
(1) 3,3'-Diindolylmethane enhances apoptosis in docetaxel-treated breast cancercells by generation of reactive oxygen species by Lanza-Jacoby S1, Cheng G. (PubMed)
(2) 3,3'-diindolylmethane and paclitaxel act synergistically to promote apoptosis in HER2/Neu human breast cancer cells by McGuire KP1, Ngoubilly N, Neavyn M, Lanza-Jacoby S. (PubMed)
(3) Hormone alterations in breast cancer: examining the hypotheses by Hindle WH. (PubMed)