Observations placeholder
Black pepper and breast cancer
Identifier
005399
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Paclitaxel is a mitotic inhibitor used in cancer chemotherapy. It was discovered in a US National Cancer Institute program at the Research Triangle Institute in 1967 when Monroe E. Wall and Mansukh C. Wani isolated it from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia and named it taxol. Later it was discovered that endophytic fungi in the bark synthesize paclitaxel.
A description of the experience
Antitumor efficacy of piperine in the treatment of human HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells.
Do MT, Kim HG, Choi JH, Khanal T, Park BH, Tran TP, Jeong TC, Jeong HG. Department of Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, South Korea.
Piperine is a bioactive component of black pepper, Piper nigrum Linn, commonly used for daily consumption and in traditional medicine. Here, the molecular mechanisms by which piperine exerts antitumor effects in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells was investigated. The results showed that piperine strongly inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis through caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage. Furthermore, piperine inhibited HER2 gene expression at the transcriptional level. Blockade of ERK1/2 signaling by piperine significantly reduced SREBP-1 and FAS expression. Piperine strongly suppressed EGF-induced MMP-9 expression through inhibition of AP-1 and NF-?B activation by interfering with ERK1/2, p38 MAPK, and Akt signaling pathways resulting in a reduction in migration. Finally, piperine pretreatment enhanced sensitization to paclitaxel killing in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Our findings suggest that piperine may be a potential agent for the prevention and treatment of human breast cancer with HER2 overexpression.
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PMID: 23870999