Brock research has uncovered a connection between a common household herb and the reduction of lung cancer cell growth.<\/p>\n
A recent study into rosemary began with Evangelina Tsiani\u2019s longstanding interest in polyphenols \u2014 chemical compounds that are mostly found in plants people eat.<\/span><\/p>\n The associate professor in the Department of Health Sciences wanted to know more about the polyphenols, sometimes referred to as antioxidants, found in the common herb.<\/span><\/p>\n Polyphenols provide micronutrients that are believed to help to prevent diabetes, cancer, heart disease and other degenerative conditions. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have some evidence that rosemary extract stops the growth of cancer cells,\u201d Tsiani said. \u201cThe question is: how is this done? What is the mechanisms of action to inhibit cancer cell proliferation?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Tsiani, her graduate student Jessy Moore and colleagues from the Departments of Health Sciences, Kinesiology and the Centre for Bone and Muscle Health, set out to see if, and how, rosemary extract stops the growth of cancer cells.<\/span><\/p>\n At the core of the research is understanding cell signalling \u2014 a complex communications system that regulates basic activities and co-ordinates actions within a cell, resulting in such processes as normal cell development and growth and tissue repair.<\/span><\/p>\n Through her research, Tsiani looks at \u2018signalling pathways,\u2019 a series of chemical reactions that transmit information within the cell, resulting in a specific action.<\/span><\/p>\n Cancer cells are created when there are errors in the way a cell processes information during a signalling pathway, often through mutations in one or more molecules.<\/span><\/p>\n Certain signalling pathways are over-activated, leading to their uncontrolled growth and quick multiplication. Cancer cells also override a process called apoptosis, where a cell programs itself to die.<\/span><\/p>\n The research team grew non-small lung cancer cells in its lab. These cells are found in up to 80 per cent of all lung cancer cases and represent the most aggressive form of the disease.<\/span><\/p>\n The team exposed these cells to rosemary extract and studied the extract\u2019s impacts on a signalling pathway called Akt and on certain proteins within the pathway.<\/span><\/p>\n The team found that the rosemary extract:<\/span><\/p>\n\n