Pomegranate Inhibits Lung, Prostate Cancers

WASHINGTON--Pomegranate may have chemopreventive effects against lung and prostate carcinomas, according to abstracts of two studies (numbers 3193 and 2272, respectively) presented by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, at the 97th Annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in April.

In the first study, a pomegranate extract rich in antioxidant anthocyanins (delphinidin, cyanidin and pelargonidin) and hydrolyzable tannins (punicalin, pedunculagin, punicalagin and gallagic and ellagic acid esters of glucose), was found to inhibit the proliferation of A549 human lung carcinoma cells by inhibiting apoptosis and signaling pathways including nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-KB), leading the researchers to conclude pomegranate fruit may be an effective lung cancer chemopreventive agent.

In the second study, the researchers found the pomegranate anthocyanin delphinidin induces caspase-dependent apoptosis in human prostate cancer (PC3) cells. Delphinidin treatment of PC3 cells at a concentration of 30-300 mcM for 48 hours was found to dose-dependently inhibit cell growth and viability as assessed by trypan blue exclusion and other assays, and induce apoptosis, as assessed by the cleavage of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP), flow cytometry and morphological changes. The researchers noted in the abstract, It is tempting to suggest that consumption of pigmented fruits and vegetables containing anthocyanins could be an effective strategy to combat prostate cancer.