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Posted on Oct 30, 2009, 6 a.m.
A rich source of antioxidants, pomegranate fruit compounds inhibit a liver enzyme and thus may confer beneficial effects against prostate cancer development.
More than half a million men worldwide are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, with over 200,000 deaths resulting from the disease. In that the cytochrome P450 enzyme, CYP1B1, is an established target in prostate cancer chemoprevention, scientists are engaged in efforts to identify compounds that inhibit CYP1B1 activity and thus confer beneficial effects against prostate cancer development. Daneel Ferreira, from the University of Mississippi (USA), and colleagues performed an in vitro experiment that found that two antioxidants present in pomegranates, the ellagitannin compounds of punicalagins and punicalins, exert potent capacities to inhibit CYP1B1.
Sashi G. Kasimsetty, Dobroslawa Bialonska, Muntha K. Reddy, Cammi Thornton, Kristine L. Willett, Daneel Ferreira. “Effects of Pomegranate Chemical Constituents/Intestinal Microbial Metabolites on CYP1B1 in 22Rv1 Prostate Cancer Cells.” J. Agric. Food Chem., October 26, 2009; DOI: 10.1021/jf902716r.
