Apricot kernel extract may help fight pancreatic cancer 杏仁提取物可能有助於對抗胰腺癌

Thursday 07/22/2021 (jkzx.com/) — Fatemeh Amazadeh from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran conducted a laboratory study and found that ethanolic extracts of both sweet and bitter apricot kernels possess anticancer properties against pancreatic cancer cells.  The study was released in 2020.

Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed in later or advanced stages when treatments are often not so effective.  According to the author, the treatment response rate is only less than 20% in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Prior studies, the author reported, have already shown that apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) kernels contain antitumor compounds including amygdalin which is known to induce apoptosis – programmed cell death.

In the  current study, amygdalin the main active ingredient in paricot kernels, and extracts from sweet apricot kernels and bitter apricot kernels were tested in cultured human pancreatic cancer cells (PANC-1) and as control normal epithelial 293/KDR cells to understand their cytotoxicity and their effect on the expression of pro-apoptotic Bax/ caspase-3 genes, and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 genes.

The author found “the IC-50 values of bitter and sweet apricot kernel ethanolic extracts were 704 and 945 µg/mL and amygdalin was 35 mg/mL at 72 h, respectively” in the cultured pancreatic cancer cells.  This means that the bitter apricot extract is more effective than amygdalin and sweet apricot kernel extracts at suppressing the growth of the pancreatic cancer cells.

Pro-apoptotic properties and suppression of the pancreatic cancer cell growth are connected with the increased expression of Bax and caspase-3 genes and reduced Bcl-2 gene expression.

The study concludes “amygdalin and bitter/ sweet apricot kernel ethanolic extract function as a potent pro-apoptotic factor for human pancreatic cancer cells without significant effect on 293/KDR cells and bitter apricot kernel ethanolic extract have the most significant effect on growth inhibition and apoptosis induction on pancreatic cancer cells.”

More reports here.

伊朗大不里士醫科大學的 Fatemeh Amazadeh 進行了一項實驗室研究，發現甜杏仁和苦杏仁的乙醇提取物都具有抗胰腺癌細胞的抗癌特性。該研究於 2020 年發布。

胰腺癌通常在晚期或晚期被診斷出來，而治療通常不是那麼有效。據作者介紹，晚期胰腺癌患者的治療反應率僅不到20%。

作者報告說，先前的研究已經表明，杏 (Prunus armeniaca L.) 仁含有抗腫瘤化合物，包括已知可誘導細胞凋亡 – 程序性細胞死亡的苦杏仁苷。

在目前的研究中，苦杏仁苷是扁豆中的主要活性成分，以及甜杏仁和苦杏仁的提取物在培養的人胰腺癌細胞 (PANC-1) 和作為對照的正常上皮 293/KDR 細胞中進行測試，以了解它們的細胞毒性及其對促凋亡 Bax/caspase-3 基因和抗凋亡 Bcl-2 基因表達的影響。

作者在培養的胰腺癌細胞中發現“苦杏仁乙醇提取物和甜杏仁乙醇提取物的 IC-50 值在 72 小時分別為 704 和 945 µg/mL，苦杏仁苷為 35 mg/mL”。這意味著苦杏仁提取物在抑制胰腺癌細胞的生長方面比苦杏仁苷和甜杏仁提取物更有效。

促凋亡特性和胰腺癌細胞生長的抑制與 Bax 和 caspase-3 基因的表達增加以及 Bcl-2 基因表達的減少有關。

該研究得出結論：“苦杏仁苷和苦/甜杏仁乙醇提取物作為一種有效的人胰腺癌細胞促凋亡因子對 293/KDR 細胞沒有顯著影響，而苦杏仁乙醇提取物對生長抑制和細胞凋亡的影響最為顯著。對胰腺癌細胞的誘導。”