Chokeberry Boosts Chemotherapy Drug

Adding nutraceuticals to chemotherapy cycles may improve the effectiveness of conventional drugs, particularly in hard to treat cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, say researchers. Dr Bashir Lwaleed, of the University of Southampton (UK) and colleagues studied the effect of an extract of chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), a wild berry native to eastern North America, on pancreatic cancer cells. The authors cultured a line of pancreatic cancer cells (AsPC-1) and assessed how well they grew when treated with either the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, or different levels of chokeberry extract alone, and when treated with both. Results showed that 48-hours of treatment with the extract alone was able to induce some cell death, however in combination, low doses of the extract greatly boosted the effectiveness of gemcitabine. The researchers concluded: "This work, first adds reinforcement to the concept that therapy for intractable cancers might usefully be augmented by the inclusion of micronutrient supplementation into regimens. More specifically, it suggests that elements in chokeberry extract, while not intrinsically toxic, can have supra-additive effects in combination with at least one other conventional cytotoxic drug."