Preventing Colon Cancer’s Spread To Liver.

University of Illinois, Chicago United States
of America, study reports a promising new
weapon in treating metastatic colon cancer,
particularly in patients who have developed
resistance to chemotherapy.
U of I researcher Elvira de Mejia has found
that the soy peptide lunasin binds to a
specific receptor in highly metastatic colon
cancer cells, preventing them from
attaching to the liver.
“When lunasin was used in combination
with the chemotherapy drug oxaliplatin, we
saw a sixfold reduction in the number of
new tumor sites,” said de Mejia, a U of I
associate professor of food chemistry and
food toxicology.
The study appears in the most recent issue
of Cancer Letters. In a separate study, the
scientists showed that lunasin induces cell
death in highly metastatic human colon
cancer cells.
According to de Mejia, almost all colon
cancer deaths are caused when cancer
metastasizes — or spreads — to the liver.
Until now chemotherapy has targeted the
primary tumor because the process of
metastasis is not well understood, she said.
“In this study, we have learned that lunasin
can penetrate the cancer cell, cause cell
death, and interact with at least one type of
receptor in a cell that is ready to
metastasize,” said Vermont P. Dia, a U of I
postdoctoral fellow in the de Mejia
laboratory and lead author of the study.
When that receptor is blocked, new blood
vessels can’t form and differentiate, and
that prevents cancer from spreading.
Binding such receptors has emerged as a
promising target for developing cancer
therapies, he said.
In the study, which mimicked the spread of
colon cancer in humans, mice were
separated into four groups: a control group;
a group that was injected daily with lunasin;
a group injected with the chemo drug
oxaliplatin; and a group that received both
lunasin and oxaliplatin. After 28 days, the
mice were examined to learn the extent of
cancer’s involvement in the liver.
“The group that received lunasin alone had
50 percent fewer metastatic sites. But an
even more exciting result was seen in the
group that received both lunasin and the
chemotherapy drug — only five new
cancer sites when compared with 28 in the
control group,” de Mejia noted.
“This huge reduction in metastasis was
achieved with the amount of lunasin in only
25 daily grams of soy protein, the amount
recommended in the FDA health claim,” Dia
said.