Bioactive Cucurbitacin B (CuB) Isolated from Cucumber Harbors Potent Chemopreventive Activity Against Prostate Cancer in Vitro and Vivo

By Kyle J. Norton

Prostate cancer found mostly in the older men is a chronic condition characterized by irregular cell growth in the prostate tissues caused by the alternation of cell DNA.

Most cases of prostate cancer start in the cells on the surface of the inner lining tissue before penetrating into deeper layers to induce a malignant tumor.

Believe it or not, prostate cancer can be classified into many different types, depending on the type of cell that causes the onset of primary cancer.

* Adenocarcinomas, the most common type of prostate cancer that develops in the gland cells that line the prostate gland. 

* Ductal adenocarcinoma, the type of cancer starts in the cells that line the ducts (tubes) of the prostate gland. r

* Transitional cell cancer is cancer that starts in the cells that line the tube carrying urine to the outside of the body (the urethra).

* Squamous cell cancer is found to develop from flat cells that cover the prostate.

* Small cell prostate cancer is found in tissue made up of small round cells.

Prostate cancer can also be classified into different stages

1. Stage 0
If the cancerous cell has not penetrated in deeper tissue but in the surface of the prostate lining.

2. Stage I
In stage I, The cancerous cells are no longer in the surface but have invaded into deep the prostate lining, but still completely inside the prostate.
a. Stage IA1
The cancer is not ≤ 3 mm (1/8 inch) deep and ≤ 7 mm (1/4 inch) wide.
a.1. Stage IA1: The spreading is < 3mm(1/8 inch) deep and & less than 7mm (1/4 inch) wide.
a.2. Stage IA2: The invasion area is ≥ 3 mm but ≤ 5 mm (about 1/5 inch) deep and & less than 7 mm (about 1/4 inch) wide.

b. Stage IB:
Cancer in this stage has invaded the connective tissue, & less than 5cm (2 inches).

b.1. Stage IB1: Cancer is 4 cm large (1 3/4 inches).b.2. Stage IB2: Cancer is ≥ 4 cm (1 3/4 inches) but & less than 5cm (2 inches)

3. Stage II
In stage II, the cancerous cells have spread to distant tissues but are still within the prostate.

4. Stage III
In this stage, cancerous cells have spread to the tissues immediately surrounding the prostate.

5. Stage IV
In this stage, cancerous cells have spread to the tissues immediately outside of the prostate, into other distant parts of the body

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 natural and potential ingredient for the treatment of prostate cancer with no side effects, researchers investigated Cucurbitacin B (CuB), a natural compound isolated from cucumber and other vegetables.

In PC-3 and LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines, CuB significantly and specifically inhibited prostate cancer cell growth with low IC50 at a concentration of 0.3 μM.

CuB induced cancer cell apoptosis by modulating the proteins associated with program cell death and pro-apoptotic pathways.

Furthermore, the bioactive compound also increased the accumulation of Sub-G0/G1 population before exhibiting cell cycle arrest.

According to the results of a chemopreventive model, pre-treatment of mice with CuB(2 weeks before PC-3 prostate cancer cell implantation significantly reduced the rate in vivo tumor-formation.

Moreover, CuB resulted in a 79% reduction in tumor size (accompanied by marked in situ apoptosis) of the treated group without causing noticeable toxicity compared to controls at day 31.

In vitro and in the CuB-chemopreventive mouse model, CuB at a dose-dependent inhibited enzyme ATP citrate lyase phosphorylation associated with cancer cell metabolism.

The findings suggested that CuB harbors potent chemopreventive activity against prostate cancer via a number of mechanisms, without inducing harmful side effects.

Taken altogether, cucumber processed a high amount of CuB may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer, pending to the confirmation of the 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.

Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal - The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Lose Weight

How To Get Rid Of Eye Floaters 
Contrary To Professionals Prediction, Floaters Can Be Cured Naturally 

Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You How To
Permanently Eliminate All Types of Ovarian Cysts Within 2 Months

Back to Kyle J. Norton Homepage http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca


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) Inactivation of ATP citrate lyase by Cucurbitacin B: A bioactive compound from cucumber, inhibits prostate cancer growth by Gao Y1, Islam MS1, Tian J1, Lui VW2, Xiao D. (PubMed)