Cranberry juice may boost the effectiveness of traditional chemotherapy for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Scientists at Rutgers University said that ovarian cancer cells were six times more likely to die during chemotherapy if they were also exposed to chemicals found in cranberries.
Scientists believe the helpful compounds are potent antioxidants called ‘A-type’ proanthocyanidins that are found only in cranberries. They theorize that the compounds bind to and block proteins in ovarian cancer cells that help tumors to form and grow.
Drugs such as cisplatin and paraplatin are commonly used to treat ovarian cancer, but cancer cells tend to become resistant to them. Increasing the dosage can cause kidney failure and nerve damage.
“For the first time, we have shown in our in vitro studies that cranberry extracts can sensitize resistant human ovarian cancer cell lines,” said Rutgers scientists Ajay. P. Singh, Ph.D. and Nicholi Vorsa, Ph.D.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States.
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