The Phytochemical cucurbitacin B isolated from Cucumber Improves Chemotherapy on Laryngeal Cancer

By Kyle J. Norton

Laryngeal cancer is a medical condition characterized by abnormal cell growth in the tissues of the larynx due to the alternation of cells DNA.

Larynx, also known as the voice box is a tube above the windpipe (trachea) in the neck and in front of the food pipe.

Most cases of laryngeal cancer start in the cell on the surface of the inner lining of the larynx, before penetrating into the deeper layers to form a tumor.

At the very early of cell alternation, patients are asymptomatic. However, as the tumor continues to grow, the cancer cell may infect other healthy tissues a distance away through the blood and fluids distribution.

Laryngeal cancer shares the general symptoms with other cancer including unintended pain, weight loss, loss of appetite, fatigue and gastrointestinal discomforts accompanied by specific symptoms of a lump or swelling in your neck. a long-lasting cough,  a persistent sore throat or earache and difficulty breathing. in severe cases.

Sometimes, patients may vomit blood due to the oversize tumor which has pressed on the nearby blood vessels.

Out of many prevalent risk factors, smoking tobacco (cigarettes, pipes, cigars) is considered a major culprit that increases the risk of developing laryngeal cancer in the Western world.

Dr. A Altieri, the lead scientist wrote, "Cancer of the larynx is extremely rare in individuals who neither smoke nor drink alcohol (Austin and Reynolds, 1996). The risk rises with increasing levels of smoking and drinking, each agent approximately multiplying the effects of the other (Elwood et al, 1984; Blot, 1992; Dosemeci et al, 1997; Talamini et al, 2002). The risk of laryngeal cancer is 10–20-fold higher in current smokers than in non-smokers".

The 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 potential and natural chemotherapy for the treatment of laryngeal cancer, researchers examined whether cucurbitacin B can also enhance the sensitivity of Hep-2 laryngeal cells to cisplatin.

The study included the evaluation of the proliferation, cell cycle distribution, and apoptosis in Hep-2 cells treated with either cucurbitacin B, cisplatin, or the combination.

According to the tested results, Hep-2 cells treated with a cucurbitacin B/cisplatin combination display synergistic effects on growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis induction, compared to single-agent cucurbitacin B or cisplatin-treated cells.

Moreover, Hep-2 cell lines treated with the cucurbitacin B/cisplatin combination demonstrated a significantly reduced level of p-Stat3, compared to single agent treated cells.

Where overexpression of p-STAT3 is an indication of a poor prognosis biomarker in cancer.

Additionally, cucurbitacin B/cisplatin-treated Hep-2 cells also demonstrated a significant reduction of the protein associated with regulation in the cell cycle and anti-apoptosis, compared to single-agent cucurbitacin B or cisplatin-treated cells.

Based on the results, researchers said, " these results suggest that the cucurbitacin B/cisplatin combination treatment may be a potentially useful therapeutic option for individuals diagnosed with laryngeal cancer".

In order to reveal more information about cucumber anti laryngeal cancer property, scientists evaluated the combined antitumor effect of cucurbitacin B with docetaxel on Hep-2, a human laryngeal cancer cell line.

The combination of cucurbitacin B and docetaxel produced greater efficacy in growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase, and apoptosis induction similar to those of the aforementioned study compared to single agent treatment.

The efficacy of the combined effect of cucurbitacin B and docetaxel anti-Hep-2 was attributed to the suppression of the expression of proteins involved in the tumor proliferation and migration.

In vivo, the combination of cucurbitacin B with docetaxel also synergestively inhibited tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model.

Taken altogether, cucumber processed a high amount of cucurbitacin B  may be considered supplements combined with conventional medicine for the treatment of laryngeal cancer, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of cucurbitacin B  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, a small molecule inhibitor of the Stat3 signaling pathway, enhances the chemosensitivity of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma cells to cisplatin by Liu T1, Peng H, Zhang M, Deng Y, Wu Z. (PubMed)
(2) Combined antitumor activity of cucurbitacin B and docetaxel in laryngeal cancer by Liu T1, Zhang M, Zhang H, Sun C, Yang X, Deng Y, Ji W. (PubMed)
(3) Cessation of smoking and drinking and the risk of laryngeal cancer by A Altieri,1 C Bosetti,1 R Talamini,2 S Gallus,1 S Franceschi,3 F Levi,4 L Dal Maso,2 E Negri,1and C La Vecchia. (PMC)