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Papaya may harbour cancer cure | The humble papaya is gaining recognition in Western medicine for its anticancer powers, with a University of Florida researcher claiming that the power fruit thwarted growth of cancer cells in lab tests. University of Florida researcher Nam Dang, M.D.,
Ph.D., and colleagues in Japan have documented papaya's dramatic anticancer effect
against a broad range of lab-grown tumors, including cancers of the cervix, breast,
liver, lung and pancreas. The researchers used an extract made from dried papaya
leaves, and the anticancer effects were stronger when cells received larger doses
of the tea. In a paper published in the Feb. 17 issue of the Journal of Ethnopharmacology,
Dang and his colleagues also documented for the first time that papaya leaf extract
boosts the production of key signaling molecules called Th1-type cytokines. This
regulation of the immune system, in addition to papaya's direct antitumor effect
on various cancers, suggests possible therapeutic strategies that use the immune
system to fight cancers. The papaya extract did not have any toxic effects on
normal cells, avoiding a common and devastating consequence of many cancer therapy
regimens. The success of the papaya extract in acting on cancer without toxicity
is consistent with reports from indigenous populations in Australia and his native
Vietnam, said Dang, a professor of medicine and medical director of the UF Shands
Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office. "Based on what I have seen and heard in
a clinical setting, nobody who takes this extract experiences demonstrable toxicity;
it seems like you could take it for a long time - as long as it is effective,"
he said. Researchers exposed 10 different types of cancer cell cultures to four
strengths of papaya leaf extract and measured the effect after 24 hours. Papaya
slowed the growth of tumors in all the cultures. To identify the mechanism by
which papaya checked the growth of the cultures, the team focused on a cell line
for T lymphoma. Their results suggested that at least one of the mechanisms employed
by the papaya extract is inducing cell death. In a similar analysis, the team
also looked at the effect of papaya extract on the production of antitumor molecules
known as cytokines. Papaya was shown to promote the production of Th1-type cytokines,
important in the regulation of the immune system. For that reason, the study findings
raise the possibility of future use of papaya extract components in immune-related
conditions such as inflammation, autoimmune disease and some cancers. |
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