Pomegranate Juice Found To Target Prostate Cancer Cells

Researchers have new evidence that clarifies pomegranate juice's mysterious beneficial effects in fighting prostate cancer. The investigators found that the tart, fashionable drink also uses a search-and-destroy strategy to target prostate cancer cells.

Dr. Navindra Seeram, an assistant professor in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA; USA), and colleagues published the findings of their study in the September 19, 2007, issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

In an earlier study, Dr. Seeram's group found that pomegranate juice consumption had a beneficial effect for prostate cancer patients with rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Such increases in PSA indicate that the cancer is progressing, "doubling time,” a major indicator of prognosis. Men whose PSA levels double in a short period are more likely to die from their cancer. Pomegranate juice decreased doubling times by nearly fourfold.

In the new study, they researchers discovered evidence in laboratory experiments that pomegranates work in a "seek and destroy” manner. On consumption, ellagitannins (ET), antioxidants plentiful in pomegranate juice, break down to metabolites known as urolithins. The researchers revealed that the urolithins concentrate at high levels in prostate tissue after being given orally and by injection to mice with prostate cancer. They also showed that urolithins suppressed the growth of human prostate cancer cells in cell culture.

"The chemopreventive potential of pomegranate ellagitannins and localization of their bioactive metabolites in mouse prostate tissue suggest that pomegranates may play a role in prostate cancer treatment and chemoprevention,” the researchers wrote in their article, recommending additional clinical studies with pomegranates and prostate cancer patients.


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