啤酒花化合物可用于对抗各种癌症

俄勒冈州立大学的研究人员进行了实验室研究，发现来自鹰嘴豆（一种用于制造啤酒的常见啤酒花植物）的化合物可以阻止多种癌细胞的生长。他们还发现这种化合物的两种衍生物也可以抑制癌细胞的生长。

不同之处在于啤酒花化合物 – 黄腐酚代谢成植物雌激素，而其两种衍生物dihydroxanthohumol和tetrahydroxanthohumol则不会。植物雌激素类似于雌性激素，其促进某些类型的癌细胞的生长。

尽管黄腐酚被代谢成植物雌激素–8-异戊烯基柚皮素，但它已被证明可有效抑制两种肝癌细胞系和两种结肠癌细胞系。研究人员测试了抗肝癌和结肠癌的抗癌效果，因为通过口服这些化合物相对容易建立高浓度的黄腐酚及其衍生物。

对于肝癌和结肠癌，黄腐酚及其两种衍生物具有相似的抗癌效果。早在20多年前就发现了黄腐酚对多种癌细胞系的抗癌活性。目前的研究还发现，黄腐酚衍生物在对抗其他类型的癌细胞方面更为有效。

该研究报告发表在国际分子科学杂志上。

Hops compounds may be used to fight various cancers

Oregon State University researchers conducted lab studies and found that a compound from humulus lupulus, the common hop plant that is used to make beer, can stop the growth of a variety of cancer cells. They also found two derivatives of this compound can inhibit cancer cell growth as well.

The difference is that the hops compound – xanthohumol metabolize into phytoestrogens while its two derivatives dihydroxanthohumol and tetrahydroxanthohumol do not. Phytoestrogens are similar to female sex hormones which promotes the growth of some types of cancer cells.

Although xanthohumol is metabolized into phyto-estrogens – 8- prenylnaringenin, it has been proved to be effective at inhibiting two liver cancer cell lines and two colon cancer cell lines. The researchers tested the anticancer efficacy against liver cancer and colon cancer because it is relatively easy to build up high concentration of xanthohumol and its derivatives by orally taking these compounds.

Against liver cancer and colon cancer, both xanthohumol and its two derivatives have the similar anticancer effectiveness. The anticancer activity of xanthohumol against a variety of cancer cell lines has been discovered more than 20 years ago. The current study also found xanthohumol derivatives are slightly more effective in fighting other types of cancer cells.

The study was reported in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.