Bromelain Kills Mammary Cancer Cells in Vitro

By Kyle J. Norton

A mammary tumor is a medical and chronic condition originated from the milk-producing gland.

The mammary gland located in the breasts of females is responsible for lactation.

Most cases of the mammary cancer are first found in the cell on the surface of the inner lining of the milk-producing gland, before penetrating deeper into the layers.

At the advanced stage, the malignant cancer cells can also travel a distance away from the original site to infect other healthy tissues and organ, leading to secondary metastasis.

Epidemiologically, mammary cancer has been found to spread to the colon and the liver.

Most common risk factors of mammary cancer are similar to those of breast cancer, inclduing, aging, physical inactivity, being obese or overweight,  family and personal history, having a dense breast, radiation therapy, pregnancy history, genetic proposition, particularly in women who had used drug diethylstilbestrol (DES).

Out of all the aforementioned risk factors, some researchers suggested that the promotion of high-fat-diet-induced a high percentage of obese US females may be the major culprit that causes the rise of mammary cancer.

Dr. Valeria Simone, the lead scientist in the examination of the molecule interconnection of obesity and breast cancer risk wrote, "Obesity is an important risk factor for breast cancer (BC) in postmenopausal women; interlinked molecular mechanisms might be involved in the pathogenesis. Increased levels of estrogens due to aromatization of the adipose tissue, inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and prostaglandin E2, insulin resistance and hyperactivation of insulin-like growth factors pathways, adipokines, and oxidative stress are all abnormally regulated in obese women and contribute to cancerogenesis".

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.

With an aim to find a natural ingredient against mammary carcinoma, researchers examined bromelain autophagic phenomenon in mammary carcinoma cells (estrogen receptor positive and negative).

According to the tested assays, bromelain showed delayed growth inhibitory response and induction of autophagy, in MCF-7 cells.

Bromelain induced cancer cells apoptosis was found in the sub-G1 cell fraction and apoptotic features associated with chromatin condensation change and cell division.

Interestingly, in the presence of an anti-apoptotic protein that augments the autophagy levels, bromelain inhibited morphological apoptosis but did not prevent cell death.

In other words, bromelain induced cancer cell death by inhibiting the expression of signaling cascade associated with the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase ½ (ERK½) and exhibiting the proapoptotic kinases (c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 kinase).

Based on the findings, researchers said, "bromelain-induced autophagy was positively regulated by p38 and JNK but negatively regulated by ERK½. Autophagy-inducing property of bromelain can be further exploited in breast cancer therapy".

In order to reveal more information about bromelain anti mammary carcinoma property, researchers examined the enzyme effect on GI-101A breast cancer cells.

According to the results from GI-101A cells treated with increasing concentrations of bromelain for 24 hours, bromelain induced cancer cell death via activation of the apoptosis mechanisms.

Observation of the results from the caspase-9 and caspase-3 assays, bromelain exhibited a prominent effect to induce cancer cells apoptosis correlated with the elevation of plasma cytokeratin 18 (CK-18) fragment levels, a marker of cell death.

The inhibition of bromelain against cancer cell proliferation was also evident by the DNA fragmentation analysis and 4,6'-diamino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride fluorescence staining of the nucleus. 

Taken altogether, bromelain may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of mammary carcinoma, 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) Pineapple bromelain induces autophagy, facilitating apoptotic response in mammary carcinoma cells by Bhui K1, Tyagi S, Prakash B, Shukla Y. (PubMed)
(2) Bromelain-induced apoptosis in GI-101A breast cancer cells by Dhandayuthapani S1, Perez HD, Paroulek A, Chinnakkannu P, Kandalam U, Jaffe M, Rathinavelu A. (PubMed)
(3) Obesity and Breast Cancer: Molecular Interconnections and Potential Clinical Applications
 by Valeria Simone, Morena D’Avenia, Antonella Argentiero, Claudia Felici,Francesca Maria Rizzo, Giovanni De Pergola and Franco Silvestris. (The Oncologist)