Liquidambaris fructus inhibits osteosarcoma through PTGS2/TGFB1 and regulates efferocytosis.
Deng L, Jiang M, Zhang C, You R, Huang Z
Medicinal Plants
Those spiky sweetgum balls littering your lawn and sidewalks each fall may contain compounds with real anti-cancer potential, turning a notorious backyard nuisance into a candidate for novel medicines.
Scientists tested an extract made from sweetgum tree fruit against two types of bone cancer cells and found it could stop the cells from growing, moving, and surviving. The extract appears to work by dialing down two proteins that bone cancer cells rely on to thrive and hide from the immune system. While this is early lab research, it adds sweetgum to a growing list of common trees whose fruits may hold future medical value.
Key Findings
Sweetgum fruit extract reduced the viability of both 143B and MNNG/HOS osteosarcoma cell lines and significantly increased cell death (apoptosis), as measured by flow cytometry.
Expression of the proteins PTGS2 and TGFB1 — identified via network pharmacology as key targets — was suppressed at both the protein and mRNA level in treated cancer cells.
The extract inhibited efferocytosis (the immune process by which macrophages clear dead tumor cells) in co-culture experiments, suggesting an additional mechanism by which it may disrupt the tumor microenvironment.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Sweetgum tree fruit extract was shown to kill bone cancer cells and block their spread in lab tests, targeting two proteins (PTGS2 and TGFB1) that tumors exploit to grow and evade the immune system.
Abstract Preview
Liquidambaris Fructus can play an anti-tumor role by triggering cell cycle blockade and apoptosis and inhibiting cancer cell proliferation. To evaluate the effects and potential mechanism of Liquid...
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Liquidambar, commonly called sweetgum, gum, redgum, satin-walnut, styrax or American storax, is the only extant genus in the flowering plant family Altingiaceae and has 15 species. They were formerly often treated as a part of the Hamamelidaceae. They are native to southeast and east Asia, the ea...