Dr. Vikas Sharma, Ph.D, FSAB
Cancer is becoming a
big load on families
and economies. It is a deadly disease and mortality figures were 6,82,830 contributing to 8.33% of global cancer deaths.. The mortality rate among men and women in India is almost the same and according to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), cancer has constantly been spreading its tentacles in Jammu and Kashmir during the past several years with lung cancer becoming most prominent due to smoking.
In 2011, there were a total of 10,688 cancer cases in State and this number increased to 11,052 in 2012 and 11,428 in 2013. During 2014, a total of 11815 cancer cases have come to the fore and where mortality is concerned, the number was 4703 in 2011 and the same increased to 4863 in 2012 and 5028 in 2013. In 2014, 1,774 cancer-related deaths have been reported and 19,534 new patients have been registered at the Oncology Department of the Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu and Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) at Soura, Srinagar. In 2015, Srinagar tops the number with 898 cancer patients while the number stands at 853 in Jammu and lowest number of cases has been recorded in Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh region where it stands at 62. Cancer has remained a major cause of death and the number of individuals living with cancer is continuing to expand, but most of the drugs used in cancer chemotherapy exhibit cell toxicity and can induce genotoxic, carcinogenic and teratogenic effects in non tumor cells. Despite the recent advances in surgery, endocrine therapy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, it is considered that the management of cancer is still not up to the mark and we are in emergent need of drugs for the treatment of cancer having no side effects.
There is strong, consistent evidence that high intake of fruits protect against various cancers especially cancers of respiratory and digestive tracts. These protective effects of high fruit consumption are attributed to the active micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and non-nutritive components (phytochemicals) that exhibit a potential for modulating human metabolism in a manner favorable for the prevention of cancer. In other words, we can say that fruits consumed in our daily diet could be a solution to this deadly disease by providing chemoprotective and chemotherapeutic remedy. The Jammu Division has great botanical diversity, but minor fruits of kandi belt have not been subjected to accepted scientific evaluation for their potential anticancer effects. The research is going on in the Division of Biochemistry, SKUAST-Jammu in collaboration with Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM-CSIR), Jammu to find out the fruits of Jammu subtropics that possess anticancer potential and can further be used for the management of cancer. The fruits that were tested for their anticancer efficiency and suppressed the proliferation of lung cancer cells are as under:
n Aegle marmelos commonly known as bael
n Carrissa carandas commonly known as karonda
n Grewia asiatica commonly known as phalsa
n Syzygium cumini commonly known as jamun
Aegle marmelos L. Corr. has enormous traditional values against various diseases as fruit, leaves, stem, roots of the plant are used as ethno medicine against various human ailments. Fruit part of bael possess high nutritional value and its pulp reported for the availability of steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, lignin, fat / oil, inulin, proteins, carbohydrates, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides and flavonoids When evaluated against human cancer lines, the bael fruit showed 72-79% growth inhibition of lung cancer cells. Carissa carandas Linn. is a large dichotomously branched evergreen shrub with short stem and strong thorns in pairs and is widely used throughout India in the treatment of scabies, intestinal worms, pruritus and its fruit have been studied for its analgesic, anti-inflammatory and lipase activity. The karonda fruit is an astringent, antiscorbutic and as a remedy for biliousness and useful for cure of anaemia. In present investigation, karonda fruit showed strong in vitro cytotoxic effect against human cancer cell lines as it suppressed 72-93% proliferation of lung cancer cells. Further, IC50 values were calculated and it was observed that karonda and bael showed IC50< 10 in case of lung cancer cells. Grewia asiatica fruits are claimed to be beneficial for heart, blood / liver disorders, anorexia, indigestion, thirst, toxemia, stomatitis, hiccough, asthma, spermatorrhoea, fevers, diarrhea and are also used for treating throat, tuberculosis, sexual debility troubles. Kandi phalsa exhibited 81% growth inhibition of lung cancer cells. Syzygium. cumini is an important medicinal plant in various traditional systems of medicine. It is effective in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, inflammation, ulcers, diarrhea and preclinical studies have shown that it to possess chemopreventive, radioprotective, antineoplastic properties. The plant is rich in compounds containing anthocyanins, glucoside, ellagic acid, isoquercetin, kaemferol and myrecetin. The fruit, seeds and even juice of the fruit play an important role in the treatment of diabetes. Jamun was also observed to be cytotoxic to lung cancer cells as 80-86% growth inhibition was observed in this case. Further, IC50 values were calculated and it was observed that phalsa and jamun showed IC50 < 10 in case of lung cancer cells.
Thus, these minor fruits possess strong antiproliferative potential against human lung cancer cells. What is quite remarkable in these observations is that the cytotoxic effect shown by the fruit extract was much stronger than that shown by standard drugs for cancer (serving as positive controls in present investigation).The results obtained confirmed the therapeutic potency of four minor fruits (bael, karonda, jamun and phalsa) against lung cancer cells and showed that these fruit extracts possess certain cytotoxic constituents that can be used for developing anticancer agents for lung cancer therapy. This research work has two fold importance: First, in Jammu subtropics, the in vitro anticancer efficiency of these minor fruits with IC50 values against the lung cancer cells used in the present investigation have not been reported in the literature. Secondly, the results from the investigation forms a good basis for the selection of these minor fruits of Jammu for further phytochemical and pharmacological analysis and offer us new drugs from natural sources which would be less toxic and more potent for the efficient management of cancer. Thus, on the basis of present analysis, it is suggested that we should encourage the consumption of these minor fruits so as to avoid the risk of lung cancer. Therefore, we can say that these four fruits possess cytotoxic potential against lung cancer cells and further the research is in progress for the isolation of active ingredient(s) that will surely serve as lead molecule (s) in the development of anticancer drugs to provide a great promise and service to lung cancer patients. Regular consumption of fruits is associated with reduced risk of cancers and additive/ synergistic effects of phytochemicals in them are responsible for potent anticancer activities.
(The author is Assistant Professor, Division of Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences SKUAST-JAMMU, Main Campus Chatha) |
