• May 8, 2024

Scientists of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) study an endemic plant in the state of Tabasco, known as Kalanchoe Flammea, whose properties could be used for the treatment of prostate cancer.

The plant is a species native to Asia, where the original Kalanchoe Pinnea shrub has been pulverized and used in capsules to treat some types of Cancer .

In Mexico, Iván Arias González , engineer in biochemistry and graduate of the doctorate of Sciences in Biotechnology of the National School of Medicine and Homeopathy (ENMH) of the IPN, analyzed and developed as part of his doctoral thesis the cytoclinical characterization of the plant and its effect in the treatment of prostate cancer .

In his research he carried out a phytochemical study of the Kalanchoe to identify groups functional chemicals of metabolites present in different extracts. The results indicated the existence of secondary metabolites, known as terpenes and alkaloids; of the cytotoxicity studies found that none proved harmful to healthy cells.

The alternatives...

He said that there are different treatments for prostate cancer (CaP), but its costs are high and ineffective because resistance usually arises that causes conditions of dependence towards other drugs in addition to those specified for the Chap , in this case the patient becomes hormone dependent; "It refers to the state in which prostate cells evade natural cell death known as apoptosis," he explained.

The American biologist confirmed that the cancer cells stimulate their own growth, resist their own programmed cell death (apoptosis); they do it through stimulating the development of blood vessels to supply nutrients to tumors (angiogenesis), to invade local tissue and spread to distant sites (metastasis).

The polytechnic researcher made three types of extracts ordered from lowest to highest polarity. He obtained that the extract with ethanol and ethyl acetate do not induce mutations in the different strains, therefore they can be used safely. Subsequently, it was shown that the process of cell death induced by the extract with better cytotoxic effect , did not cause damage to healthy cells.

"It has been shown that natural products modulate the stimulation of apoptosis by eliminating the proliferation of cells damaged, in addition to inhibiting the process of angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels from existing ones, which help the tumor process).

For this reason, finding secondary metabolites is an important resource for generating new compounds anticancer ", he pointed.

Due to the difficult access to obtain the plant in a dangerous area of ​​Tabasco it was necessary to reproduce the substance and metabolites in an "artificial" manner; although the substances were not achieved in their entirety, they were necessary to generate the extract.

For this reason, the extract is 70 percent natural and 30 percent synthetic. The advantage that the manufacture of the compound has is to avoid the extinction of the Kalanchoe Flammea .

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