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Animal study: spirulina helps prevent breast cancer
Supplementation with Spirulina platensis may have a protective effect against breast cancer in women. Researchers from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman write about this in the American Journal of Pathology. The researchers caused rats to develop breast cancer by injecting them with a carcinogenic compound, and then observed that spirulina supplementation reduced the chance of tumour formation by a factor of seven.
Spirulina
Plants contain hundreds of substances that may have a protective effect against cancer, and the cyanobacteria Spirulina platensis contains lots. Phycocyanin, for example [structural formula on the right]. Or selenium, or chlorophyll, or carotenoids. Or gamma-linolenic acid [structural formula below].
There are indications that substances such as the components of Spirulina platensis can inhibit cancer cell development or activate the immune system that kills cancer cells.
[Ann Nutr Metab. 2008;52(4):322-8.] But scientists had never looked at whether Spirulina platensis can protect lab animals against cancer.
Study
The researchers injected 20 young female rats with the carcinogenic 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene [DMBA], and gave another 20 rats injections that did not contain carcinogenic substances. Half of both groups were given normal food and the other half were given food that contained 1 percent spirulina powder. The human equivalent of this dose would be 5-8 g Spirulina platensis per day.
Results
Of the rats that had been injected with DMBA and that ate standard food, 87 percent developed tumours during the course of the experiment. Of the rats that had been injected with DMBA and had been given spirulina, 13 percent developed tumours. Supplementation with spirulina increased the survival chances of the rats that had been injected with DMBA.
Spirulina activated suicide genes in the cancer cells, the researchers discovered. In addition, spirulina reduced the number of estradiol alpha-receptors, and the concentration of the protein Ki-67.
Estradiol can make hormone-sensitive cancer cells grow faster via the alpha-receptor. Ki-67 is a marker for cell division.
Conclusion
"In conclusion, Spirulina platensis exhibited remarkable antitumor activity by inhibiting cell proliferation induced by DMBA in rats", the researchers write.
"Although the direct mode of action and in-depth molecular mechanisms of Spirulina platensis have yet to be established, we plan to use microarray gene expression profiling to investigate the molecular pathways underlying the mode of action of its main ingredients that might act in synergy."
Source:
Am J Pathol. 2014 Jan;184(1):296-303.
More:
Animal study: spirulina prevents dementia 10.03.2012
Take spirulina now, and avoid hay fever in the spring 24.12.2012
Spirulina boosts runners' performance 26.01.2010
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Cancer Prevention & Survival
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