Chinese medicine extract kills cancer cells in lab An extract from a traditional Chinese herbal medicine called Shan Dou Gen may one day be used to treat leukemia and other cancers, results from laboratory experiments suggest. The extract, sophoranone--a flavonoid compound--is found in the roots of the Sophora subprostrata plant, and is typically used as an antidote and a pain-reliever. Flavonoids are chemicals found in fruits and vegetables, and are known to have anti-cancer activity. However, "sophoranone has the strongest cell-death causing activity among already known flavonoids," study author Dr. Kazuyasu Nakaya of Showa University in Tokyo, Japan told Reuters Health. "There is a possibility that we can prepare effective anti-cancer drugs or cancer-preventing drugs from sophoranone or its derivatives," he added. Programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is one of the ways that the body prevents cancer from developing. Mechanisms within an abnormal body cell may detect these abnormalities and trigger the cell to "commit suicide" before it can begin dividing rapidly to form a tumor. Nakaya and his colleagues observed in laboratory experiments that an extract from the roots of the Sophora subprostrata Chun et T. Chen plant caused apoptosis in human leukemia cells. That extract was later identified as sophoranone, they report in the June 20th issue of the International Journal of Cancer. Low concentrations of sophoranone appeared to hinder the growth of human leukemia cells as well as the growth of cells from various solid tumors, study findings indicate. The compound was particularly effective against stomach cancer, the researchers note. Furthermore, the percentage of cells programmed to die reportedly increased with increasing concentrations of the extract, study findings indicate. In light of these findings, sophoranone may soon be available outside the laboratory to treat cancer patients, the researcher suggests. "If a big pharmaceutical company supports us, it will be used as an anti-cancer drug or as a cancer-preventing drug within 10 years," Nakaya said. Reuters Health, 7/02 CancerSource.com Ann's NOTE: We suggest whole ORGANIC foods so you get lots of flavinoids and other phytochemicals-the building blocks of your body. LINK to Chinese herbs for leukemia Leuk Res, 7/05 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.