Monday, August 1, 2016

Everything cures melanoma...redux....#5?????

Lord knows I have covered 'most' everything that folks have tested and came away saying would cure melanoma:  coffee, curcumin, strawberry extract, wine, doxycycline, beta blockers, snake venom, shitakes, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, cimetadine, NSAID's, Vitamin D, Vietnamese Sophora root, exercise, sandalwood...I did leave off sea urchin snot....just seemed a bridge too far!!!!  Here are those posts if you'd like to see the data for yourself:

From 2013:  Everything cures melanoma, so why do we have it?

Be Better in 2013: Jump up, jump around and get down!

2014: Red, red wine boosts radiation effect

Also from 2014:  For melanoma: eat that curry again we just don't know why!

2015: Everything kills melanoma: Take 4

Now we have these reports touting the benefits of dill and parsley, coffee and curcumin again, anti-cholesterol meds and stress control! Here you go:


Efficient Synthesis of Glaziovianin A Isoflavone Series from Dill and Parsley Extracts and Their in Vitro/in Vivo Antimitotic Activity.  Semenov, Tsyganov, Semenova, et al.  J Nat Prod. 2016 Apr 21. 

A concise six-step protocol for the synthesis of isoflavone glaziovianin A (GVA) and its alkoxyphenyl derivatives 9 starting with readily available plant metabolites from dill and parsley seeds was developed. The reaction sequence involved an efficient conversion of the key intermediate epoxides 7 into the respective β-ketoaldehydes 8 followed by their Cu(I)-mediated cyclization into the target series 9. The biological activity of GVA and its derivatives was evaluated using a panel of seven human cancer cell lines and an in vivo sea urchin embryo assay. Both screening platforms confirmed the antimitotic effect of the parent GVA (9cg) and its alkoxy derivatives. Structure-activity relationship studies suggested that compounds 9cd and 9cf substituted with trimethoxy- and dillapiol-derived B-rings, respectively, were less active than the parent 9cg. Of the evaluated human cancer cell lines, the A375 melanoma cell line was the most sensitive to the tested molecules. Notably, the target compounds were not cytotoxic against human peripheral blood mononuclear cells up to 10 μM concentration. Phenotypic readouts from the sea urchin assay unequivocally suggest a direct microtubule-destabilizing effect of isoflavones 9cg, 9cd, and 9cf.

Higher Caffeinated Coffee Intake Is Associated with Reduced Malignant Melanoma Risk:  A Meta-analysis study.  Liu, Shen, Shi, Cai, PLoS One.  2016 Jan 27.

Several epidemiological studies have determined the associations between coffee intake level and skin cancer risk; however, the results were not yet conclusive. Herein, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the cohort and case-control studies for the association between coffee intake level and malignant melanoma (MM) risk.  Studies were identified through searching the PubMed and MEDLINE databases (to November, 2015). Study-specific risk estimates were pooled under the random-effects model.  Two case-control studies (846 MM patients and 843 controls) and five cohort studies (including 844,246 participants and 5,737 MM cases) were identified. For caffeinated coffee, the pooled relative risk (RR) of MM was 0.81 for those with highest versus lowest quantity of intake. In the dose-response analysis, the RR of MM was 0.955 for per 1 cup/day increment of caffeinated coffee consumption and linearity dose-response association was found. Strikingly, no significant association was found between the decaffeinated coffee intake level and MM risk.  This meta-analysis suggested that caffeinated coffee might have chemo-preventive effects against MM but not decaffeinated coffee. However, larger prospective studies and the intervention studies are warranted to confirm these findings.


Potentiating the antitumour response of CD8+ T cells by modulating cholesterol metabolism.  Yang, Bai, Xiong, et al.  Nature. 2016 Mar 16. 

CD8+ T cells have a central role in antitumour immunity, but their activity is suppressed in the tumour microenvironment. Reactivating the cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells is of great clinical interest in cancer immunotherapy. Here we report a new mechanism by which the antitumour response of mouse CD8+ T cells can be potentiated by modulating cholesterol metabolism. Inhibiting cholesterol esterification in T cells by genetic ablation or pharmacological inhibition of ACAT1, a key cholesterol esterification enzyme, led to potentiated effector function and enhanced proliferation of CD8+ but not CD4+ T cells. This is due to the increase in the plasma membrane cholesterol level of CD8+ T cells, which causes enhanced T-cell receptor clustering and signalling as well as more efficient formation of the immunological synapse. ACAT1-deficient CD8+ T cells were better than wild-type CD8+ T cells at controlling melanoma growth and metastasis in mice. We used the ACAT inhibitor avasimibe, which was previously tested in clinical trials for treating atherosclerosis and showed a good human safety profile, to treat melanoma in mice and observed a good antitumour effect. A combined therapy of avasimibe plus an anti-PD-1 antibody showed better efficacy than monotherapies in controlling tumour progression. ACAT1, an established target for atherosclerosis, is therefore also a potential target for cancer immunotherapy.

Curcumin:  A new candidate for melanoma therapy?  Mirzaei, Naseri, Reazee, et al.  Int J Can.  2016 Jun 9.  

Melanoma remains among the most lethal cancers and, in spite of great attempts that have been made to increase the life span of patients with metastatic disease, durable and complete remissions are rare. Plants and plant extracts have long been used to treat a variety of human conditions; however, in many cases, effective doses of herbal remedies are associated with serious adverse effects. Curcumin is a natural polyphenol that shows a variety of pharmacological activities including anti-cancer effects, and only minimal adverse effects have been reported for this phytochemical. The anti-cancer effects of curcumin are the result of its anti-angiogenic, pro-apoptotic, and immunomodulatory properties. At the molecular and cellular level, curcumin can blunt epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and affect many targets that are involved in melanoma initiation and progression (e.g. BCl2, MAPKS, p21 and some microRNAs). However, curcumin has a low oral bioavailability that may limit its maximal benefits. The emergence of tailored formulations of curcumin and new delivery systems such as nanoparticles, liposomes, micelles and phospholipid complexes has led to the enhancement of curcumin bioavailability. Although in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that curcumin and its analogues can be used as novel therapeutic agents in melanoma, curcumin has not yet been tested against melanoma in clinical practice. In this review, we summarized reported anti-melanoma effects of curcumin as well as studies on new curcumin formulations and delivery systems that show increased bioavailability. Such tailored delivery systems could pave the way for enhancement of the anti-melanoma effects of curcumin.

Association of stress coping strategies with immunological parameters in Melanoma Patients.  Trapp, Trapp, Avian, et al.  Acta Derm Venereol. 2016 Jun 9.

In this exploratory case control study the association between stress coping strategies and lymphocyte subpopulations was calculated in 18 non-metastatic melanoma patients and 18 controls with benign skin diseases. Coping strategies were assessed using the German version of the stress-coping questionnaire (SVF 120). While in the control group patients showed significant negative correlations of lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, CD45+ cells) with coping strategies that refer to defence, in melanoma patients significant positive correlations between lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3+, CD4+, CD19+, CD45+ cells) were found with regard to coping strategies that are characterized by diversion from stress and focusing on stress-compensating situations. The present data, in melanoma patients and controls, show contrary correlations between stress coping strategies and lymphocyte subpopulations. The interconnection between stress coping and immunologic alterations in malignant melanoma is a field deserving further multiprofessional investigation in order to provide new therapeutical approaches in the treatment and understanding of melanoma patients.



Supercritical Fluid Extract of Spent Coffee Grounds Attenuates Melanogenesis through Downregulation of the PKA, PI3K/Akt, and MAPK Signaling Pathways.  Huang, Wei, Siao, et al.  Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. June 2016.


The mode of action of spent coffee grounds supercritical fluid CO2 extract (SFE) in melanogenesis has never been reported. In the study, the spent coffee grounds were extracted by the supercritical fluid CO2 extraction method; the chemical constituents of the SFE were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The effects of the SFE and its major fatty acid components on melanogenesis were evaluated by mushroom tyrosinase activity assay and determination of intracellular tyrosinase activity and melanin content. The expression level of melanogenesis-related proteins was analyzed by western blotting assay. The results revealed that the SFE of spent coffee grounds (1-10 mg/mL) and its major fatty acids such as linoleic acid and oleic acid (6.25-50 μM) effectively suppressed melanogenesis in the B16F10 murine melanoma cells. Furthermore, the SFE decreased the expression of melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), and tyrosinase-related protein-2 (TRP-2). The SFE also decreased the protein expression levels of p-JNK, p-p38, p-ERK, and p-CREB. Our results revealed that the SFE of spent coffee grounds attenuated melanogenesis in B16F10 cells by downregulation of protein kinase A (PKA), phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K/Akt), and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signaling pathways, which may be due to linoleic acid and oleic acid.
 
While most of these...coffee, curcumin, and becoming a bit more zen most certainly....are likely to do no harm, do keep this word of warning in mind should you be determine to cure yourself:   Combining alternative and conventional treatments can be a risky business!

For what it's worth! - c

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