Chinese herb extract protects from pancreatic cancer

Researchers have found an extract in a Chinese herb, which can eventually leading to pancreatic cancer cell death.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found triptolide, an extract of the Chinese herb thunder god vine (Tirpterygium wilforii), which suppresses GRP78, a protein that protects cells from dying, is more abundant in cancer cells and tissue than in normal organs and is thought to play a role in helping pancreatic cancer cells survive and thrive.

For mammals to use the proteins in our bodies, a process called protein folding must occur in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of cells.

If proteins are not folded fast enough, unfolded proteins begin to build up and the cell becomes stressed. Prolonged ER stress activates a cellular process called the "unfolded protein response (UPR)". Initially, the UPR helps kick-start the cell's protein-folding ability, allowing it to function properly again. But if the problem doesn't resolve, the UPR triggers cell death.

GRP78 helps cells survive long enough for the UPR to kick in and is available in higher quantities in pancreatic cancer cells, which assists the cancer cells in evading cell death, allowing them to live and multiply.

Ashok Saluja said that the study shows that although increased expression of GRP78 confers a survival advantage to the tumor cells, prolonged exposure to triptolide induces chronic ER stress, which eventually leads to cell death.

He added that the inhibition of GRP78 by activation of the ER stress pathway by triptolide offers a novel mechanism for inhibiting the growth and survival of pancreatic cancer cells.

The study was published in the American Journal of Physiology- Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.