A new study (Anasuya Ray, Smreti Vasudevan, Suparna Sengupta, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone) looked at the inhibitory activity of the ginger-derived compound 6-shogaol against breast cancer cells both the normal and the stem cell versions.
Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) are the troublesome cells at the heart of cancers that re-grow after tumours are knocked-back by chemotherapy. No drugs currently exist in 2016 that can kill CSCs.
Research concluded, ‘6-shogaol was effective in killing both breast cancer monolayer cells (normal) and spheroids (CSCs) at doses that were not toxic to non-cancerous cells.
The percentages of CD44+CD24-/low cells and the secondary sphere content were reduced drastically upon treatment with 6-shogaol confirming its action on CSCs. Treatment with 6-shogaol caused cytoplasmic vacuole formation and cleavage of microtubule associated protein Light Chain3 (LC3) in both monolayer and spheroid culture indicating that it induced autophagy.
Autophagy is the major mode of cell death induced by 6-shogaol in breast cancer cells. The efficacy of 6-shogaol in both forms of breast cancer cells raises hope for its therapeutic benefit in breast cancer treatment’.
Interestingly the chemo drug, Taxol, did not show any activity against the CSCs even at 10,000 times higher concentrations! This is an important finding in itself as Taxol (paclitaxel) is regularly prescribed to treat Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
You might like to read our full report on Ginger (including its action with prostate, breast, colorectal and other cancers – HERE.)