Bromelain Inhibits Cancer Initiation and Progression in Vitro and Vivo

By Kyle J. Norton

Cancer is a class of chronic and medical conditions caused by the alternation of cell DNA.

Most cases of cancer start in the cells on the surface of the inner lining of specific tissues and organs.

At the early stage due to the very small size of the tumor, most cancers are asymptomatic. However, at the advanced stage, cancer only can induce general symptoms such as gastrointestinal discomfort, unintended weight loss, fatigue, and loss but also lead to specific symptoms, such as localized bleeding and pain, depending to the location of cancer.

Also, at this stage, primary cancer cells can travel a distance away from the original site to infect other healthy tissues and organ, leading to secondary metastasis through the circulation of blood and fluids.

According to the statistic provided by the American Cancer Society, in the US 2019, approximately 1,762,450 new cancer cases will be diagnosed and 606,880 deaths are results of cancer.

Furthermore, in age perspective, older adults although are accounted for only 8% of all cases diagnosed in the US, they have a 17% mortality rate compared to other age groups.

The 5 years survival rate is totally depending on the stage of cancer diagnosed. The early diagnosed stage has the highest survival rate compared to other later stages.

Many risk factors such as aging, tobacco, sun exposure, toxic exposure, viruses and bacteria, use hormone therapy, family history of cancer, alcohol, poor diet, lack of physical activity, or being overweight have been found to increase the risk of cancer, epidemiologically.

However, most people with some of the aforementioned risk factors have never developed cancer.

Some researchers in the examination of the risk of obesity in risk cancer wrote, "The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing worldwide, and the evidence base for a link between obesity and cancer is growing... Recent research has found that as the body mass index increases by 5 kg/m2, cancer mortality increases by 10%".

Bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme found in pineapples (Ananas comosus) has been used in traditional medicine as an inflammatory agent and to treat pains, strains, and muscle aches and pains and ease back pain and chronic joint pain, skin diseases, etc.

The research team at the University of Oxford on finding a potential compound for the treatment of cancer with no side effects examined the bromelain capacity against cancers in the past and present studies.

Evidence derived from clinical observations, mouse- and cell-based models suggested that bromelain, a 95%-mixture of proteases acts systemically, affecting multiple cellular and molecular targets.

The most recent study found that bromelain has the capacity to inhibit cell malignancy by modulating the key pathways associated with cell differentiation.

Other studies suggested the anti-cancer activity of bromelain consists of the direct impact on cancer cells and their microenvironment by modulating immune, inflammatory and hemostatic systems.

Additonally, in the study to reaffirm the use of bromelain (BL) as an anti-cancer phytotherapeutic agent, researchers examined Oral administration of bromelain (BL) in anti-cancer drugs encapsulated in Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to formulate nanoparticles (NPs).

NPs enhanced the function of cytotoxicity in the induction of cancer cell death in significant dose advantage (-7-10 folds) that reduces the IC50 values, compared to free BL.

NPs induced cellular uptake of MCF-7, HeLa and Caco-2 cells monolayer by several folds compared to free BL.

NPs also modulated the expression of marker proteins associated with apoptosis and cell death and suppression (P53, P21, Bcl2, Bax).

Furthermore, in Swiss albino mice, NPs injection not only reduced the tumor burden of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) but also increased their life-span (160.0 ± 5.8%) compared to free BL.

In other words, NPs enhanced anti-carcinogenic potential through a number of mechanisms, including the generation of reactive oxygen species, induction of apoptosis and impaired mitochondrial membrane potential.

Taken altogether, bromelain used alone or encapsulated in Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of cancer, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of bromelain 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) Bromelain's activity and potential as an anti-cancer agent: Current evidence and perspectives by Chobotova K1, Vernallis AB, Majid FA. (PubMed)
(2) Anti-cancer activity of bromelain nanoparticles by oral administration by Bhatnagar P, Patnaik S, Srivastava AK, Mudiam MK, Shukla Y, Panda AK, Pant AB, Kumar P, Gupta KC. (PubMed)
(3) Obesity and Cancer Risk: Recent Review and Evidence by Karen Basen-Engquist and Maria Chang. (PMC)