Apricots, May Be the Next Generation Chemo Alternative Anti Liver Cancer Functional Food

Apricot, a functional food may be the next pharmaceutical target for the finding of an effective medicine with potential in the treatment of liver cancer, some scientists suggested.


Liver cancer is a medical and chronic condition caused by irregular cell growth in the liver tissue.
What causes the mutation of liver cell DNA is unknown. However, according to the epidemiological studies, cancer originated from the liver are associated with livers damaged by birth defects, alcohol abuse, or chronic infection with diseases such as hepatitis B and C, hemochromatosis.

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), the advanced form of the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). are one of the major risk factor associated with significant liver damage or the increased risk of liver cancer.

Unhealthy diet pattern and lifestyle also can contribute to the early onset of liver cancer. therefore making positive lifestyle choices such as Not smoking, eating a healthy diet and keeping physically active are some of the ways which can reduce the risk of liver cancer.

The World Cancer Reserve Fund wrote," There is strong evidence that being overweight or obese is a cause of liver cancer, consuming approximately three or more alcoholic drinks a day is a cause of liver cancer, and consuming foods contaminated by aflatoxins (toxins produced by certain fungi) is a cause of liver cancer".

Men are about 3 times more likely than women to be diagnosed with the disease

According to the statistic, in the US., an estimated 30,610 men and 11,610 women will be diagnosed with primary liver cancer, causing the deaths of 20,540 men and 9,660 women.


The apricot tree is about 8–12 m tall and a trunk up to 40 cm diameter belonging to the family Rosaceae.

Apricot is classified in the family of the plum with yellow to orange, often tinged red on the side which is exposed to the sun.

Chemical constituents of apricot include
Oleic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic.acid, glycolipids, phospholipids, benzoic acid (I), isorhamnetin (II), quercetin (III), kaempferol-3-O-beta-D-galactopyranoside (IV), isorhamnetin-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (V), isoquercitrin (VI), hypericin (VII) and rutin (VIII)(a) and flavonoid glycosides.

In the assessment of MK615, an anti-cancer substance extracted from the Japanese apricot, researchers at the Dokkyo University School of Medicine conducted an investigation to examine the anti-neoplastic effect of MK615 against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Observation of the assays from 2 HCC lines, HuH7 and Hep3B, were cultured with MK615 at concentrations of 600, 300, 150, and 0 microg/mL found that
* MK615 inhibited the growth of, and lysed, HuH7 and Hep3B cells in a dose-dependent manner

* MK615 decreased the population of cells in G2/M phase, according to the Cell cycle analysis.

* MK615 suppressed the expression of the function of Aurora A. associated with cancer cell proliferation by 34.3%, 32.9%, and 54.3% at 150, 300, and 600 microg/mL MK615, respectively.

Dr. after taking into account co and confounders said, "(These results suggested that) MK615 has an anti-cancer effect against HCC lines in vitro, and the effect is exerted through inhibition of Aurora-A activity".

Furthermore, in the evaluation of the clinical effects and feasibility of administering MK615 for patients with HCC recurred in the liver 8 mo after the surgery.in a 60-year-old female with advanced HCC, researchers found that
* Radiofrequency ablation and transarterial infusion chemotherapy were performed but the recurrence was not controlled and one year after the intrahepatic recurrence, pulmonary and lymph metastasis reappeared.

* Administration of chemo drug Sorafenib was not effective.

* MK615 was administered as a final alternative therapy after informed consent was obtained from the patient.

3 months of MK615 injection exerted a significant effect in decreasing her alpha-fetoprotein level and sizes of both the lymph node and pulmonary metastases. The patient has survived for more than 17 mo after the MK615 administration.

These results suggested that MK615 is effective against advanced liver cancer metastases.

Taken all together, apricot may be considered a functional food for the prevention and adjunct therapy for the treatment of liver cancer.
However, further data collection large example size and multi-centers studies performed with human consumption of the whole food apricot during the course of the disease will be necessary to complete the picture of apricot anti-liver cancer possibilities.



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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.


Sources(1) A novel anti-cancer substance, MK615, from ume, a variety of Japanese apricot, inhibits growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by suppressing Aurora A kinase activity by Okada T1, Sawada T, Osawa T, Adachi M, Kubota K.(PubMed)
(2) Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma responds to MK615, a compound extract from the Japanese apricot "Prunus mume" by Hoshino T1, Takagi H, Naganuma A, Koitabashi E, Uehara S, Sakamoto N, Kudo T, Sato K, Kakizaki S.(PubMed)