An investigation by ibs.GRANADA demonstrates the capacities against colorectal cancer of cherimoya, moringa and mashua

A study by the Biosanitary Research Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA) and the University of Granada (UGR) has tested the antioxidant and antiproliferative properties against colorectal cancer of three types of plants: custard apple –very common on the Costa Tropical of Granada–, moringa and mashua. The scientist from the Biomedical Research Center Marco Fuel Herrera heads this work, carried out in the ibs.GRANADA Technology Applied to Oncology and Gene Therapy research group directed by José Carlos Prados Salazar, professor of the Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology and coordinator of the Oncology area of the ibs.GRANADA.

Fuel Herrera, of Ecuadorian origin, obtained the seeds of these species in Ecuador, where they are common, and cultivated them in the UGR laboratories to carry out the research. The analyzes began with the extraction of the important compounds from the plants thanks to the use of ethanol. The study has evaluated the ability to inhibit the growth and proliferation of antioxidant tumor cells in colorectal cancer cell lines, as well as the ability to prevent damage to normal (non-cancerous) cells.

Research shows that beneficial compounds found in cherimoya, moringa, and mashua are capable of killing, at low doses and in cell culture, up to 50% of cancer cells. In addition, these compounds enhance the activity of the drug 5-fluorouracil, which is currently the most widely used against colorectal cancer.

"Traditional medicine is highly used in Ecuador for its cultural value and for the benefits it can provide, but the mechanisms with which the different plant compounds act are still unknown," explains the ibs.GRANADA and UGR researcher Fuel frame. For this reason, the study has been carried out with two seeds and a tuber from plants that are widely cultivated in Ecuadorian lands.

This type of research aims to elucidate unknowns related to the beneficial properties of many plants, whose consumption is persistent and high among the population. "In the future, the work carried out at the UGR encourages the development of 'in vivo' research and clinical studies that could present surprising results and become new therapeutic options that use the beneficial properties of these species", concludes Marco Fuel Herrera.

Due to the contribution of the results in the field of health and biomedicine, the study has been published in the international journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.

Bibliographic reference:

Marco Fuel, Cristina Mesas, Rosario Martínez, Raul Ortiz, Francisco Quiñonero, José Prados, Jesús M. Porres, Consolación Melguizo,
Antioxidant and antiproliferative potential of ethanolic extracts from Moringa oleifera, Tropaeolum tuberosum and Annona cherimola in colorectal cancer cells, Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, Volume 143, 2021, 112248, ISSN 0753-3322, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2021.112248.