A recent study reveals that pomegranate fruit extract has promising activity against oral cancer cells.
Mitochondria are cellular organelles responsible for supplying most of the energy necessary for cellular activity, regulate metabolism, and decision-making about the life or death of the cell. Since cancer cells require a great deal of energy for their development and proliferation, mitochondria are essential for their survival.
Pomegranate has gained much attention due to its ability to inhibit/prevent a wide variety of cancers. However, it is in the peel extract where most of its active components are concentrated: polyphenols, flavonoids, hydrolyzable tannins as well as punicalagins, the most antioxidant molecules known.
Recently, at Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan, Sheng-Yao Peng and co-workers have studied the antitumor activity of pomegranate fruit extract against several types of oral cancer cells. Their results showed that pomegranate fruit extract induces antiproliferation and cell death of oral cancer cells through mechanisms of mitochondrial impairment. These findings could improve the treatment of oral cancer that has rarely been explored.
Article: Pomegranate Extract Induces Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Apoptosis of Oral Cancer Cells. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10071117