Cranberry Compounds Improve Platinum Chemotherapy In Ovarian Cancer

Chemotherapy platinum drugs including cisplatin and paraplatin are mainstay treatment for ovarian cancer. But ovarian cancer cells often fall resistant to platinum therapy which pose a problem to the treatment that even increasing the dosage is of no good because it will cause unwanted side-effects such as nerve damage and kidney failure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ovarian cancer is the seventh most common cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States.

Now, cell culture studies of human ovarian cancer cells that are resistant to platinum drugs have been found to become 6 times more sensitized to the drugs after exposure to the cranberry compounds obtained from juice extracts.

Paraplatin killed 6 times more cancer cells that were pre-treated with juice extract compared to cells that were exposed to the cancer drug alone.

The extract also slowed the growth and spread of some cancer cells.

The maximum amount of juice extract given to the cells was the human equivalent of about a cup of cranberry juice.

However, the researchers warned that this study is experimental and that patients with ovarian cancer should always consult with their physicians before trying any type of anti-cancer therapy.

Find more details from Science Daily.