Breast cancer cure in sojne danta

KOLKATA: You have it in your lunch every other day, but did you ever realize how effective sojne danta (drumsticks, as they are popularly known as) could be in curing life-threatening diseases? If not, a team of city researchers has a surprise for you. They have found that sojne danta (moringa oleifera) has the potential to cure breast and ovarian cancer. There are certain compounds in it that can inhibit cancer cells and cause their 'programmed death', the researchers have claimed.

Started in 2012, the research is being jointly conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Cancer Research Institute (NCRI).

"We were experimenting with various plants when we came across the moringa root. It had these two interesting compounds - glucosinolate and bengyl-isothiosyonate - that can kill breast cancer cell lines. It works under a mechanism that is called apoptosis. It results in programmed cell death and is effective in case of ovarian cancer as well," said clinical scientist Chinmay Bose, who is leading the research. Both ovarian and breast cancer are caused by the hyper-functioning of estrogen hormone. The moringa compounds have been found to inhibit estrogen biochemically.

"These compounds control estrogen on the one hand and kill cancer cells on the other. The moringa root has got more compounds that have to be identified. These might have more properties that could help to treat the diseases more effectively," said Bose.

The next step for researchers will be to identify the cell lines that are being blocked by the compounds. Cancer cells will have to be cultured for that. "It has to be done in a particular laboratory environment that we don't have yet. We will have to import certain instruments from other cities and develop the laboratory. We are working towards that and we expect to start rolling by the middle of this year. It won't be easy but we are confident of success," said Bose.

Once the rest of the compounds are identified, the scientists will prepare for phase I clinical trial. "The signs are encouraging and the research has the promise to be a path-breaking one. So far, things have been moving as expected. We are about to submit a report to the ICMR, after which the work on developing a laboratory will begin," said Ashish Mukhopadhyay, NCRI director.

The state has around 21,000 ovarian cancer patients, 60% of whom turn drug resistant in two years. Of 48,000 breast cancer patients in the state, 30% are resistant to drugs. "This underlines the necessity for the development of biological agents as a replacement for conventional chemotherapy," said Mukhopadhyay. Around 20% of breast and ovarian cancer patients die every year.