Ashwagandha Inhibits Colorectal Cancer by Inducing Mitochondrial Dysfunction

By Kyle J. Norton

Cancer is the class of diseases associated with cell growth disorderly and uncontrollably due to the alternation of DNA.

Most cases of cancer begin in the cells on the surface of the inner lining tissues of the organ or gland. At the early stage, most cancers are asymptomatic.

Cancer cells at the advanced stage also can travel a distance away from the original site to induce secondary metastasis.

According to the statistics provided by the American cancer society, in 2018, 1,735,350 new cases were diagnosed, representing more than 4,700 new cancer diagnoses each day.

The lifetime probability of being diagnosed with cancer is 39.7% for men and 37.6% for women.

Compared to other types of cancer, colorectal cancer is a medical condition caused by cell growth irregularly in the tissue of the colon or rectum due to the alternation of cells DNA.

According to the statistics provided by the American Cancer Society, in the US, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women compared to other types of cancer.

The lifetime risk of colorectal cancer is 1 in 22 (4.49%) for men and 1 in 24 (4.15%) for women.

Approximately, 140,000 cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed in the US in 2018. Cancer also causes the death of over 50, 000 people, representing 8.3% of total cancer death.

Being overweight or obese. smoking, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol drinking, the increased in age, family and personal history, genetic preposition are some of the prevalent risks of the disease.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a condition affecting the organelles that generate energy for the cell.

Mitochondria are the cell that converts the food molecules into the energy for the body tissues' needs. Mitochondria produces 90 percent of the energy for body functioning.

On finding a potent compound that processes the anti-cancer activity, researchers examined the effects of Withaferin A (WA), an active steroidal lactone derived from the herbal plant Withania somnifera cytotoxic induced mitochondrial dysfunction on colorectal cancer (CRC).

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.

In vitro, according to the flow cytometry, withaferin A, induced accumulation of ROS in human colon cancer cells to cause apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by inducing the mitochondrial dysfunction that affects the production of energy for the cancer cells' needs.

Furthermore, on HCT-116 and RKO cells, WA exerted a cytotoxic effect on a dose-dependent manner.

Moreover, the anti colorectal cancer cells property of WA was attributed to the ROS production and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, accompanying with mitochondrial dysfunction. 

Based on the finding, researchers said, " These results strongly indicated that WA directly inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in CRC cells through ROS-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and JNKs pathway, and WA may be a promising potential candidate for therapeutic application of CRC".

Taken altogether, Ashwagandha processed abundantly withaferin A may be considered a functional herb for the treatment of CRC by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction of the cancer cells, 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) Withaferin A induces apoptosis by ROS-dependent mitochondrial dysfunction in human colorectal cancer cells by Xia S1, Miao Y2, Liu S. (PubMed)