Written by Tatjana Djakovic, Staff Writer. In a placebo controlled experiment on rats, grape seed extract showed a 55% decrease in the inflammation marker (MPO enzyme) compared to subjects treated with the cancer drug flurouracil.
Mucositis is a painful, inflammatory condition that affects the mucus covered surfaces of the gastrointestinal system in cancer patients that are receiving chemotherapy and radiation. These treatments affect the rapidly dividing cells in the body, and unfortunately mucositis is a common side effect of cancer treatments. It results in lesions and ulcers of the mouth, stomach, and intestines, which causes patients much pain when consuming food, nausea, and weight loss(1). Oral mucositis affects up to 80% of patients receiving radiation for head and neck cancer and approximately 40% of patients undergoing chemotherapy (2). In addition, it can affect up to 100% of bone marrow transplant patients (3).
The current treatments are limiting in providing relief for patients, because they target the symptoms but not the root cause of mucositis. In this recent animal study, researchers tested grape seed extract (GSE) because of its strong anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. They sought to determine the ideal dose that is both safe and effective in reducing mucositis as well as inhibiting the formation and division of cancer cells.
There were 64 rats weighing 100-140 g that were divided into 8 groups and treated accordingly for 12 days.
- Group 1= control group (water and saline)
- Group 2= Grape seed extract 400mg/kg
- Group 3= Grape seed extract 600mg/kg
- Group 4= Grape seed extract 1000mg/kg
- Group 5= cancer drug (5 fluorouracil 150 mg/kg)
- Group 6= Grape seed extract 400mg + cancer drug
- Group 7= Grape seed extract 600mg + cancer drug
- Group 8= Grape seed extract 800mg + cancer drug
The inflammation was tested by measuring levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) enzyme, which is present in white blood cells during inflammation. The stomach and intestinal tissues were examined under the microscope to approximate the thickness of the mucosal tissue. In addition, the percentage of cancer cells that survived following treatment was also analyzed (4).
GSE did not significantly change the body weight, food, water intake, and urine and fecal properties compared to rats receiving only water, showing that it is safe treatment. GSE showed a 55% decrease in the inflammation marker (MPO enzyme) (p<0.01) compared to rats treated with water and cancer drug flurouracil. In healthy animals, there was no effect on MPO levels, indicating that GSE did not affect the enzyme activity in healthy animals (4).
The examination of tissues under the microscope showed that there was an increase in the depth of intestinal crypts with the use of 1000mg/kg of GSE in combination with the cancer drug (p<0.05) compared to the controls. Additionally, GSE alone reduced the percentage of surviving cancer cells when researchers studied the colon cancer cells in culture. They found that 50 μg/ml resulted in the percentage of surviving cancer cells to be 31% and 100 μg/ml resulted in the percentage of surviving cancer cells to be 29% (p<0.05), compared to the cancer drug, which had far greater percentage of surviving cancer cells (64%) (4).
In the current study, researchers showed that higher doses of GSE 1000 mg/kg were effective at increasing the intestinal depth and decreasing mucosal thickness, lowering inflammation and significantly destroying cancer cells. It is important to note, that this dosage is high* if it were to be given to humans, and therefore its safety and efficacy would have to be proven in a large human study before it can be established as a form of treatment.
*Doses of GSE available as supplements range for 60 to 250 mg. The dose of 1000 mg/kg in rats is equivalent to 162 mg/kg in humans or would be equivalent to 11,340 mg for a 70 kg (154 lbs) person.
Source: Cheah, Ker Yeaw, Gordon Stanley Howarth, and Susan Elaine Putnam Bastian. “Grape seed extract dose-responsively decreases disease severity in a rat model of mucositis; concomitantly enhancing chemotherapeutic effectiveness in colon cancer cells.” PloS one 9.1 (2014): e85184.
© 2014 Cheah et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
Click here to read the full text study.
Posted March 5, 2014.
References:
- Camp-Sorrell D. 2000. Chemotherapy: toxicity management. In: Yarbro CH, Frogge MH, Goodman M, et al. (eds). Cancer nursing principles and practice. 5th ed. Boston: Jones & Bartlett. p 444-86.
- Wojtaszek C. 2000. Management of chemotherapy-induced stomatitis. Clin J Oncol Nurs, 4:263-70.
- Epstein JB, Schubert MM. 1999. Oral mucositis in myelosuppressive cancer therapy. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod, 88:273-6.
- Cheah, Ker Yeaw et al.,. “Grape Seed Extract Dose-Responsively Decreases Disease Severity in a Rat Model of Mucositis; Concomitantly Enhancing Chemotherapeutic Effectiveness in Colon Cancer Cells.” PloS one 9.1 (2014).
