http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F622C2AC-2F35-4C1E-8C17-F71C4696863C.htm
Cancer can't stand the heat
Thursday 16 March 2006, 6:57 Makka Time, 3:57 GMT
Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill
themselves, US and Japanese researchers say.
Capsaicin led 80% of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to kill
themselves, in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said on Wednesday.
Prostate cancer tumours in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of
tumours in untreated mice, they reported in the journal Cancer Research.
Dr Soren Lehmann, of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre and the University of
California Los Angeles School of Medicine, said: "Capsaicin had a profound
anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture.
"It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumours formed by
those human cell lines grown in mouse models."
Spicy food
While it is far easier to cure cancer in mice infected with human tumours than
it is in human beings, the findings suggest a possible future treatment. They
also may offer a good excuse for men who like spicy food to eat more of it.
Lehmann estimated that the mice ate the human equivalent of 400mg of capsaicin
three times a week. That is about the amount found in three to eight fresh
habanero peppers, depending on how hot the peppers are.
The capsaicin inhibited the activity of NF-kappa beta, a molecular mechanism
that helps lead to apoptosis in many cell types.
Prostate cancer is the most common malignant cancer in US men. It is diagnosed
in 232,000 men every year and kills up to 30,000 of them.
Worldwide, 221,000 men die every year from prostate cancer.
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