Herbal Ashwagandha Gobbles Up Human Head and Neck Cancer Cells In Vitro

By Kyle J. Norton

Cancer is a group of diseases associated with cell growth disorderly and uncontrollably in the tissue of a specific organ. Over time cancer can become progressively worse and damage other healthy tissues.

Most cases of cancer start in the cells on the surface in the inner lining tissue of a specific organ, before traveling a distance away to affect other nearby tissue and organ.

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. Patients with head and neck cancer at the very early stage are asymptomatic due to the very small size of the tumor.

However, at the later stage, the cancer cell can travel a distance away from the original site to infect other healthy tissues and organs, leading to secondary metastasis.

The exact causes of head and neck cancer are not identified. However, researchers found that excessive alcohol intake, smoking, infected by the HPV virus, poor oral health, race, long-term exposure to wood dust are prevalent factors associated with an increased risk of head and neck cancer.

Dr. Kazuhiro Kobayashi in the investigation of the risk of HPV on head and neck cancer (HNC) wrote, " Infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of HNSCCs. It is now widely accepted that high-risk HPV is a cause of almost all cervical cancers as well as some forms of HNSCCs. HPV-related HNSCCs are increasing".

Ashwagandha also is known as Withania somnifera is a nightshade plant in the genus of Withania, belonging to the family Solanaceae, native to the dry parts of India, North Africa, Middle East, and the Mediterranean.

The herbal medicine has been considered as Indian ginseng and used in Ayurvedic medicine over 3000 years to treat tumors and tubercular glands, carbuncles, memory loss, and ulcers and considered as anti-stress, cognition-facilitating, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging herbal medicine.

On finding a potent compound for the treatment of cancers, researchers examined the apoptotic activity of methanol extract of Ashwagandha (MEAG) and in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells.

In vitro, in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells treated by MEAG showed dose-dependent growth-inhibitory activity involved in caspase-dependent apoptosis.

The inhibition of human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) was attributed to induce the loss of mitochondrial membrane, the release of cytochrome c, accompanied by the activation of caspase 9 the apoptotic pathway.

Furthermore, Bim, truncated Bid (t-Bid), cleaved caspase-8, and death receptor 5 (DR5), associated with pro-apoptotic activity was also a significant increase upon the injection of MEAG.

Moreover, the major constituent withaferin A (WA), a bioactive component of MEAG.also expressed similar effects to those of MEAG.

Based on the findings, researchers said, " MEAG and WA may be potential natural materials for the treatment of HNSCC.".

Taken altogether, Ashwagandha may be considered a functional herb for the prevention and an adjunct therapy combined with the primary medicine for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), pending to the result of larger 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.

Sources
(1) Anticancer activity of Ashwagandha against human head and neck cancer cell lines by Lee HE1, Shin JA1, Jeong JH2, Jeon JG3, Lee MH4, Cho SD. (PubMed)
(2) Withaferin A induces apoptosis through the generation of thiol oxidation in human head and neck cancer cells by Park JW1, Min KJ2, Kim DE1, Kwon TK. (PubMed)
(3) A Review of HPV-Related Head and Neck Cancer by Kazuhiro Kobayashi,1 Kenji Hisamatsu,1 Natsuko Suzui,1 Akira Hara,1,2 Hiroyuki Tomita,2,* andTatsuhiko Miyazaki. (PMC)