A compound found in the spice cardamom shows promise in slowing the growth of an aggressive form of malignancy. These are other steps you can take to prevent tumors or support treatment.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Triple-negative breast cancer is among the most aggressive forms of breast cancer, which researchers showed responded positively in the lab when exposed to cardamonin, a compound found in the spice cardamom
- The compound has received attention for over a decade for chemoprotective and chemotherapeutic properties, including against breast cancer and colon cancer, showing it could reduce cancer cell glucose uptake
- The current study showed it produced a dose-dependent decrease in PD-L1, which is a protein found more plentifully in tumor cells and is how they evade the immune system
- While some researchers are turning to medicinal plants to help treat cancers, others have incorporated nutritional ketosis with highly encouraging results
Research[2] presented at the Experimental Biology 2022 meeting in Philadelphia demonstrated how a compound found in the spice cardamom, could have therapeutic potential against triple-negative breast cancer.
Breast cancer is categorized as invasive or noninvasive.[3] Noninvasive breast cancer has not spread to the surrounding tissue and is called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or intraductal carcinoma. When breast cancer is invasive it has spread to the surrounding tissue. The two most common types are invasive ductal and invasive lobular carcinoma.
These make up between 70% and 80% of all diagnosed breast cancers, but there are two special types of invasive breast cancers that account for fewer diagnoses but are more difficult to treat.
Inflammatory breast cancer grows aggressively and blocks the lymph vessels in the skin. This causes the area over the cancer to have an orange peel appearance and the skin to look inflamed. It is rare, accounting for up to 5% of all breast cancers. Triple-negative breast cancer is also an especially aggressive cancer and accounts for up to 15% of all breast cancers that are diagnosed.
Triple-negative breast cancer gets its name from testing negative for estrogen and progesterone receptors, and negative for the protein called HER2.[4] The lack of hormonal receptors in the cancer cells means the tumor doesn’t respond to hormonal therapies or those that target HER2. This type of breast cancer is more common in women younger than 40, Black women and women with the BRCA1 genetic mutation.
Compound in Cardamom Shows Promise in Breast Cancer Treatment
The compound — cardamonin — has received attention for over a decade for chemoprotective and chemotherapeutic properties.[6] Cardamonin belongs to a group of flavonoids called aromatic enones that are often responsible for the yellow color in plants. The group of flavonoids is called chalcones and has a history in medicinal chemistry.One study[7] published in 2019 noted that cardamonin has anti-inflammatory and antitumor activity, but the mechanism it uses to inhibit breast cancer had not been identified. They found that cardamonin inhibited the Nrf2-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging system. The accumulation of ROS induced apoptosis in the cancer cells.
They also found that the compound reduced glucose uptake and lactic acid production, which affects cancer cell metabolism. A second study[8] in 2020 wrote that the compound “is well-known to inhibit proliferation, migration, invasion and induce apoptosis … The good biosafety and pharmacokinetic profiling of cardamonin satisfy it as an attractive molecule for the development of an anticancer agent.”
Past research has also demonstrated that cardamonin has antineoplastic activity against colon cancer.[9] The current study presented at Experimental Biology 2022 meeting had encouraging results against triple-negative breast cancer, showing the compound affected the genetic pathway that cancer cells use to avoid the immune system.
The current lab study used cell lines of triple-negative breast cancer from women with African-American ancestry and another cell line from women of European origin.[10] According to the press release, the researchers investigated how the compound affected programmed cell death of the lignin 1 (PD-L1) gene found more plentifully in tumor cells than in normal cells.[11]
“The data show that cardamonin may alter the production of PD-L1 at the transcription level in MDA-MB-231 [Caucasian] TNBC cells, but not in MDA-MB-468 [African American] cells, corroborating with literature showing differences in the tumor microenvironments between African Americans and non-African Americans.
“The fact that cardamonin has been used for centuries as a spice and, more recently, as a supplement shows that its intake is safe and may bring health benefits. Our research shows that cardamonin holds potential for improving cancer therapy without as many side effects as other chemotherapeutic agents.”
The War on Cancer Starting to Focus on Medicinal Plants
Mendonca also stressed the importance of investigating medicinal plants, saying:[14] “It has been challenging to develop a targeted therapy for triple-negative breast cancer that is safe and effective at the same time. Because of this, there is a critical need to investigate medicinal plants as a new way to combat this cancer.”It was in the mid-1970s when scientists believed they understood the molecular basis of cancer. The hypothesis was that cancer was caused by sequential mutations that could then be precisely targeted using gene-based therapies. This ushered in the era of targeted therapy, which has been a bitter disappointment. While scientists were excited by lab results, targeted therapy has barely moved the needle on cancer death rates.
“An example of that is Tarceva, which was approved about 10 years ago. It’s got a pretty bad side effect profile. It’s expensive. It boosts median survival for pancreatic cancer patients by 10 days. That’s what we’re dealing with, those kinds of things.
Cancer Is a Metabolic Disease
Cancer, including breast cancer, is a metabolic disease that can respond to nutritional ketosis. In this interview with Christofferson and Slocum, we discussed how Slocum and his team at ChemoThermia Oncology Center in Turkey are using fasting to support their chemotherapy efforts with cancer patients. The patients are first put on a ketogenic diet, which creates metabolic stress in the cancer cells.[17][18]Before administering chemo, the patients do a 14-hour fast, which increases the metabolic stress. Typically, blood glucose levels are around 80 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) when the team then applies glycolysis inhibitors that create additional stress, since the cells are already starved of glucose.
Next, the patients receive insulin to lower their blood glucose levels even further before chemotherapy is administered. In the days after chemotherapy, the team uses hyperbaric oxygen therapy and hyperthermia, plus a daily infusion of glycolysis inhibitors with high dose vitamin C (50 grams) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO).
The results have been notable and published in several papers,[19][20][21][22] including treatment of stage 4 triple-negative breast cancer.[23] Thomas Seyfried, Ph.D., professor of biology at Boston College, is also a leading expert and researcher in the field of cancer metabolism and nutritional ketosis.
His book, “Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management and Prevention of Cancer” is a foundational textbook on this topic, and in August 2016, he received the Mercola.com Game Changer Award for his work. In a past interview,[24] we discussed the mechanisms of cancer and the influence of mitochondrial function, which plays a crucial role in the development and treatment of this disease.
Fasting May Drastically Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer
Cancer is a metabolic disease deeply rooted in mitochondrial dysfunction. In a nutshell, cancer cells burn glucose, which generates far more ROS than fat and ketones. To burn fat, the cell must be healthy and normal, so a high-fat, low-sugar diet essentially starves cancer while nourishing healthy cells.To be clear, unless you’re on a drug that requires you to eat at certain times or when you take it, time-restricted eating and a ketogenic diet can safely and easily be implemented even if you’re going through conventional cancer treatment. In fact, as Slocum has demonstrated, it can make chemotherapy more effective.
It goes without saying that when using metabolic therapies, the patient carries a significant responsibility for their own outcome. The doctor cannot cook your food, force you to take supplements or withhold food when it’s time to fast. You must be very diligent and disciplined to follow the specified regimen.
Essentially, if you have a life-threatening condition like stage 4 cancer, you need to be a bit obsessive and follow the regimen to the letter. You cannot veer from the protocol if you expect to achieve the kind of results Slocum has found in his treatment facility.
“As an example, patients come and they’re on a ketogenic diet. When they will be coming in for chemotherapy after a 14-hour fast, then that would apply a glycolysis and insulin to lower the glucose and then apply chemotherapy.
Interestingly, Seyfried is working with a glutamine inhibitor called DON to prevent this from happening, thereby making the therapy even more effective. It is important to understand that the “metabolic magic” actually occurs during that refeeding phase when net carbs and protein are increased, which increases muscle growth.
After a day or two, you then cycle back into nutritional ketosis. Typically, this is done once a week. To a degree, Slocum uses this technique on cancer patients as well, although they’re only allowed to eat higher amounts of net carbs once every two or three weeks, on the day they receive chemotherapy.
