Plant Compound May Block Tobacco-Induced Lung Cancer

Deguelin, a natural plant product, may interfere with the development of tobacco-induced lung cancer by interfering with the cellular processes that turn normal cells cancerous.

Previous studies have found that deguelin inhibits the proliferation of premalignant and malignant human bronchial epithelial cells by inhibiting the activation of a cellular pathway called P13K/Akt, which helps cancerous cells survive. Ho-Young Lee, Ph.D., of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues treated mice with deguelin to determine whether deguelin could block tobacco-induced lung tumorigenesis, which occurs through Akt activation.

They found that deguelin decreased Akt activation and the number of tobacco-induced lung tumors in the treated mice compared with untreated mice with no detectable toxicity. The authors conclude that deguelin should be considered for testing as a chemopreventive agent for early stages of lung carcinogenesis.

In an editorial, Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center in Minneapolis, points out the difficulties in designing mouse models of tobacco-induced lung carcinogenesis that can then be applied to current and former smokers. That said, he writes, “the work reported by Lee et al., as well as that being carried out in other laboratories, holds some promise for new approaches to lung cancer chemoprevention.”

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute is published by Oxford University Press and is not affiliated with the National Cancer Institute. Attribution to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute is requested in all news coverage. Visit the Journal online at jncicancerspectrum.oxfordjournals.org.

Kate Travis
kate.travis@oxfordjournals.org
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
jncicancerspectrum.oupjournals.org