Dietary Supplement Blocks Growth and Spread of Breast Cancer in Mouse Model

A natural dietary supplement was shown to inhibit growth and spread of aggressive, human triple-negative breast cancer in a mouse model of the disease.

The supplement known as BreastDefend (BD) is produced by EcoNugenics (Santa Rosa, CA, USA). It contains extracts from medicinal mushrooms (Coriolus versicolor, Ganoderma lucidum, Phellinus linteus), medicinal herbs (Scutellaria barbata, Astragalus membranaceus, Curcuma longa), and purified biologically active nutritional compounds (diindolylmethane and quercetin). Previous studies had shown that BD inhibited proliferation and metastatic behavior of MDA-MB-231 invasive human breast cancer cells in vitro.

In the current work, which was published in the October 2012 issue of the journal Oncology Reports, investigators at Indiana University Health (Indianapolis, USA) examined the effect of BD on a mouse model of aggressive human breast cancer.

They reported that oral application of BD by intragastric gavage did not affect body weight or activity of liver enzymes and did not show any sign of toxicity in liver, spleen, kidney, lung, and heart tissues in the mice. Moreover, BD significantly decreased the change in tumor volume over time compared to the control group. BD treatment also markedly decreased the incidence of breast-to-lung cancer metastasis from 67% (control) to 20% (BD). The antimetastatic activity of BD in vivo was further confirmed by results from gene analysis that indicated the downregulation of expression of PLAU (urokinase plasminogen activator, uPA) and CXCR4 (C-X-C chemokine receptor-4), two prometastatic breast tumor genes.

“Patients with triple-negative breast cancer often die from metastasis,” said contributing author Dr. Isaac Eliaz, from the Amitabha Medical Clinic and Healing Center (Sebastopol, CA, USA). “This formula, taken as a health supplement, may offer new hope for patients struggling to overcome an invasive, deadly disease which has been so difficult to treat. This formula may be an important adjunct in treating the most aggressive type of breast cancer and other forms of this disease. It dramatically decreases the metastatic process, slows the growth of primary tumors, and favorably alters oncogene expression, but equally important, it achieves all this with no side effects.”

Continued promising results obtained with BD treatment have prompted investigators to plan the first phase of human clinical trials, which may start as early as 2013.

Related Links:
EcoNugenics
Indiana University Health