Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) Bioactive Compound Cucurbitacin B (CuB) Kills Melanoma in Vitro

By Kyle J. Norton

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer associated with the alternation of DNA in the pigment-containing cells.

The melanin is a pigment that gives skin, hair, and eyes their color.

Malignant melanin cells (melanocytes) lead to the formation of moles on the skin with usually brown or pink color.

Skin is the largest organ in the body which not only processes a unique function by protecting our body through its covering but also is a third detoxed organ that eliminates toxins from our body in cases the kidney and liver fail.

Epidemiologically, certain risk factors such as exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR), genetic preposition such as CDKN2A gene mutation, people with light color skin, personal and family history of skin cancer are associated with the onset melanoma.

However, most people with some of the aforementioned risk factors have not developed melanoma.

Out of many risk factors, long-term contact with ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is the most common risk factor found in skin cancer in the US.

Dr. Wang SQ, the lead scientist at the New York University School of Medicine, wrote, "The incidence and mortality rates of melanoma have risen for many decades in the United States. Increased exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is generally considered to be responsible. Sunburns, a measure of excess sun exposure, have been identified as a risk factor for the development of melanoma".

And, "Because sunburns are primarily due to UVB (280-320 nm) radiation, UVB has been implicated as a potential contributing factor to the pathogenesis of melanoma. The adverse role of UVA (320-400 nm) in this regard is less well studied".

Cucumber plant is a species of Cucumis Sativus, belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae and native to Western Asia. It is a creeping vine with roots in the ground and grows up with the support of frames.

With an aim to find a potential compound for the treatment of cancer, researchers examined the effects of Cucurbitacin B (CuB), a triterpenoid compound isolated from cucumber, against melanoma  B16 cell.

According to the tested assays, CuB exerted significant inhibitory effects on cell proliferation, colony formation, cell migration and invasion potential of the melanoma cells.

In vivo, CuB significantly inhibited the growth of subcutaneous melanoma in mice compared to control.

Furthermore, injection of CuB treatment induced rapid cancer cell membrane blebbing and deformation and induced G(2)/M-phase arrest and cell proliferation.

Moreover, CuB also induced overexpression of ROS in facilitating the cytotoxic activity against the tested cell lines through rapid depletion of the protein involved the formation of microfilaments.

Dr. Zhang Y, the lead scientist said, " These findings indicate that CuB induces rapid depletion of the G-actin pool through ROS-dependent actin aggregation in melanoma cells, which may at least partly account for its anti-tumor activity".

Additonally, CuB inhibited the proliferation of the cell line was found to be in a dose-dependent manner, involving the induction of autophagy and exhibited the function of a protein associated with anti-apoptosis.

Combined with chloroquine, a well-known autophagy inhibitor, the combination showed more sensitive to the tested melanoma cells.

In other words, CuB improved the efficacy of chloroquine against melanoma while reducing the medicine side effects.

Taken altogether, cucumber processed a high amount of CuB may be considered a natural remedy for the prevention and treatment of melanoma, pending to the confirmation of larger sample size and multicenter human study

Intake of CuB in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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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) Cucurbitacin B induces rapid depletion of the G-actin pool through reactive oxygen species-dependent actin aggregation in melanoma cells by Zhang Y1, Ouyang D, Xu L, Ji Y, Zha Q, Cai J, He X. (PubMed)
(2) Histone deacetylase inhibitor valproic acid sensitizes B16F10 melanoma cells to cucurbitacin B treatment by Ouyang D1, Zhang Y, Xu L, Li J, Zha Q, He X. (PubMed)
(3) Ultraviolet A and melanoma: a review by Wang SQ1, Setlow R, Berwick M, Polsky D, Marghoob AA, Kopf AW, Bart RS. (PubMed)