Friday, August 03, 2007

Study: Propolis Extract May Help Prevent Prostate Cancer

Human Prostate Cancer Cells by Ethanolic Extracts of Brazilian Propolis and Its Botanical Origin
International Journal of Oncology, 2007 Sep;31(3):601-6

Propolis is a resinous substance collected by bees (Apis mellifera) from various tree buds which they then use to coat hive parts and to seal cracks and crevices in the hive. Propolis, a known ancient folk medicine, has been extensively used in diet to improve health and to prevent disease.

In the present study, we have evaluated the effects of ethanolic extracts of Brazilian propolis group l2 and bud resins of botanical origin (B. dracunculifolia), and propolis group 3 on proliferation of metastasis (DU145 and PC-3) and primary malignant tumor (RC58T/h/SA#4)-derived human prostate cancer cells…

The results obtained here demonstrate that the Brazilian propolis extracts have significant inhibitory effect on proliferation of human prostate cancer cells. Inhibition was achieved through regulation of protein expression of cyclin D1, B1 and cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) as well as p21.

Our results indicate that the Brazilian propolis extracts show promise as chemotherapeutic agents as well as preventive agents against prostate cancer.

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