Herbal Ginger, the Potential Remedy for the Prevention and Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer, According to Studies

By Kyle J. Norton


Head and neck cancer is a class of cancer including the mouth, nose, throat, larynx, sinuses, or salivary glands.

Most cases of head and neck cancer start in the cell of the inner lining of the affected tissue. However, at the later stage, the cancer cell can travel a distance away from the original site to infect other healthy tissues and organ, leading to secondary metastasis.

The exact causes of head and neck cancer are unknown. However, certain risk factors have been found to associate with the onset of the disease, including, excessive alcohol intake, smoking, infected by the HPV virus, poor oral health, race, long-term exposure to wood dust.

Some researchers suggested that people who perform oral sex before sexual intercourse is at a higher incidence of disease development as human papillomavirus (HPV) can spread during oral sex, increasing the possibility of oral cancer.

According to the statistics, in the US, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus.

Dr. Ankit Shah, the lead scientist in the examination of oral sex and human papillomavirus-related head and neck squamous cell cancer, wrote, "Unprotected sexual behaviors with the HPV carrier plays an important role in the transmission of this virus".

And, "The global incidence of head and neck cancers is declining, but the incidence of HPV related head and neck cancers is rapidly increasing over the last few decades".

Unfortunately, the doctor team continued, "However, most institutions do not mandate documentation of sexual history or counseling of patients regarding sexual practices like they do for tobacco and alcohol addictions in HNSCC patients".

The results strongly suggested that HPV can transmit and cause head and neck cancer.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) or ginger root, the second superfood used for thousands of years by mankind, is the genus Zingiber, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to Tamil.

The root has been used in traditional and Chinese medicine for the treatment of dyspepsia, gastroparesis, constipation, edema, difficult urination, colic, etc.

Researchers on finding a natural remedy for the treatment of head and neck cancer examined the two major pharmacologically active compounds of ginger, 6-gingerol, and 6-shogaol on head and neck cancer cell lines.

According to assays, injection of 6-gingerol, and 6-shogaol showed a dose-dependent reduction of cancer cell viability and induced cancer cells apoptosis.

Furthermore, according to the Western blot analysis, injection of ginger also suppressed the protein associated with the antiapoptotic activity, namely the survivin.

Combination of 6-shogaol with cisplatin also showed a synergistic reduction of clonogenic survival.

The results strongly suggested that ginger inhibits head and neck cancer cells through degradation and apoptosis.

Moreover, in order to reveal more information about ginger anti-cancer effects, researchers evaluated
the 1'-Acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA), extracted from rhizomes of tropical ginger against human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell line HN4.

Application of ACA exerted significantly inhibited activity against the growth of human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell line HN4 and induced cell apoptosis.

The efficacy of ACA was associated with the inhibition of the expression of miR-23a, which has been found to promote growth and suppress apoptosis in HN4 cells.

Under the transfection process, ginger demonstrated a strong anti-miR-23a activity by stimulating the inhibition of the proliferation of HN4 cells and inducing cell apoptosis. 

Where miR-23a is an RNA gene which can repress tumor suppressor phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) for the growth of the tumor.

Taken altogether, ginger processed major active compounds may be considered a functional remedy for the prevention and treatment of head and neck cancer, pending to the confirmation of large sample size and multicenter 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.

References
(1) 6-shogaol induces apoptosis and enhances radiosensitivity in head and necksquamous cell carcinoma cell lines by Kotowski U1, Kadletz L1, Schneider S1, Foki E1, Schmid R2, Seemann R3, Thurnher D4, Heiduschka G. (PubMed)
(2) MicroRNAs contribute to the anticancer effect of 1'-acetoxychavicol acetate in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell line HN4 byWang H1, Shen L, Li X, Sun M. (PubMed)
(3) Oral sex and human papilloma virus-related head and neck squamous cell cancer: a review of the literature by Ankit Shah, Akshat Malik, Apurva Garg, Manish Mair, Sudhir Nair, and Pankaj Chaturvedi. (BMJ Journal)