Observations placeholder
Prunus fruit seeds and cervical cancer
Identifier
007270
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Amygdalin is a glycoside initially isolated from the seeds of the tree Prunus dulcis, also known as bitter almonds, by Pierre-Jean Robiquet and Antoine Boutron-Charlard, in 1830 and subsequently investigated by Liebig and Wöhler in 1830. Several other related species in the genus of Prunus, including apricot (Prunus armeniaca) and black cherry (Prunus serotina), also contain amygdalin as well as the seeds of apple.
Amygdalin isolated from the fruit and used as a medicine has the potential to be poisonous because the dose is too high - enzymes (in particular, glucosidases that occur in the gut and in various kinds of seeds, edible or inedible) act on amygdalin to produce cyanide, but cyanide in minute doses has its uses – see the link.
I am a little unsure about the validity of the research below given the mechanism by which the cyanide works - it normally only functions in the body to help our bacteria, but I have included the observation anyway as it may be the mechanism works in multiple ways.
A description of the experience
Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol. 2013 Feb;35(1):43-51. Doi: 10.3109/08923973.2012.738688. Amygdalin induces apoptosis in human cervical cancer cell line HeLa cells. Chen Y1, Ma J, Wang F, Hu J, Cui A, Wei C, Yang Q, Li F. Department of Pathogenobiology, Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University, Chang Chun, Jilin, China.
Amygdalin, a naturally occurring substance, has been suggested to be efficacious as an anticancer substance. The effect of amygdalin on cervical cancer cells has never been studied. In this study, we found that the viability of human cervical cancer HeLa cell line was significantly inhibited by amygdalin.
4,6-Diamino-2-phenyl indole (DAPI) staining showed that amygdalin-treated HeLa cells developed typical apoptotic changes. The development of apoptosis in the amygdalin-treated HeLa cells were confirmed by double staining of amygdalin-treated HeLa cells with annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (PI) along with increase in caspase-3 activity in these cells.
Further studies indicated that antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 was downregulated whereas proapoptotic Bax protein was upregulated in the amygdalin-treated HeLa cells implying involvement of the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. In vivo, amygdalin administration inhibited the growth of HeLa cell xenografts through a mechanism of apoptosis. The results in the present study suggest that amygdalin may offer a new therapeutic option for patients with cervical cancer.
PMID: 23137229