Phytochemical Betanin, the Chemo Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

By Kyle J. Norton


Cancer is a class of chronic disease associated with the alternation of cell DNA.

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

Epidemiologically, most cases of cancer at the very early stage are asymptomatic. However, at the advanced stage, primary cancer cells can travel a distance away from the original site to infect other healthy tissues and organs.

Types of secondary metastasis can be classified into

1. Local spreading, lymph vessel, blood vessel

*  Local spreading as soon as the cancer cells grow to its tumor size, it will invade the nearby area. 

*  Spread through lymph vessel
If some cancer cells detached from the primary tumor and travel, they can grow into secondary cancer but most of the time they are trapped in the nearby lymph nodes closest to the original tumor.

* Spread through blood circulation
Similar to spread through lymph vessel, cancer cells detached from an original tumor can enter the bloodstream by slipping pass the blood vessel wall and start growing into the secondary tumor as they are trapped into some small capillaries.

2. Travel of clumps of cancer along the channels
Sometimes, cancer cells detached from the primary tumor can travel through other channels and spread to some parts of the body that are more vulnerable to become metastatic sites than others.

3. The arrival of cancer cells at a distance site
The development of the survival of cancer cells gets trapped and grow into the second tumor.

4. Angiogenesis
Angiogenesis is a process involving the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels. The secondary tumor can persuade the adjacent tissue to build blood vessels by providing it with vital nutrients and oxygen.

At this stage, the overgrowth of the tumor may also press on the nerve cells, blood vessels, and healthy tissues, leading to specific symptoms, depending to the types of tumor accompanied by the general symptoms shared by all cancers.

Betanin is phytochemicals in the class of red and yellow indole-derived pigments of Betacyanins, belonging to the group of Betalains, found abundantly in beets, chard, etc.

In the urgency to find a potential and natural compound for the treatment of cancer with no side effects, researchers examined the effects of betanin (BET) in reducing the side effects of potent anticancer drugs e.g. doxorubicin (DOX) on the normal tissues in co-administration.

In order to overcome the incomplete oral absorption and low stability of BET that limits its application, synergistic effect of DOX@BET by a new pH-responsive nanocarrier via decoration of gelatin nanoparticles (GNPs) (methoxy poly (ethylene glycol)-poly ((2-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate-co-itaconic acid) (PGNPs) was designed.

According to the triggered release ability of drugs assays, the GNPs not only controlled the release of DOX and BET with adjusting the pH of the environment but also decreased the cell viability amount of breast cancer cells (MCF-7) compared to the free form of DOX or BET.

In other words, BET combined with  DOX not only enhanced the chemo drug toxicity against cancer but also reduced the side effect found in the free form of DOX. 

Furthermore, in two mouse lung tumor models, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine investigated the chemopreventive activity of betanin by oral consumption.

The experiment included vinyl carbamate (VC) and benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) induced lung cancer female A/J mice with lung cancer were treated with betanin in drinking water.

According to the tested assays, injection of betanin significantly decreased tumor multiplicity and tumor load induced by both carcinogens by 20% and 39% in the VC lung model, and by 46% and 65% in the B(a)P lung model, respectively.

The efficacy of betanin in both lung cancer models has attributed to the phytochemical lung tumor inhibitory effects in the induction of apoptosis and inhibition of angiogenesis. 

Dr. Zhang Q, the lead scientists after taking other factors into account wrote, " Our data show that betanin significantly inhibits lung tumorigenesis in A/J mice and merits investigation as a chemopreventive agent for human lung cancer:.

Taken altogether, betanin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of cancer, pending to the confirmation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of betanin 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) A novel smart PEGylated gelatin nanoparticle for co-delivery of doxorubicin and betanin: A strategy for enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy by Amjadi S1, Hamishehkar H2, Ghorbani M. (PubMed)
(2) Beetroot red (betanin) inhibits vinyl carbamate- and benzo(a)pyrene-induced lung tumorigenesis through apoptosis by Zhang Q1, Pan J, Wang Y, Lubet R, You M. (PubMed)