OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 Block Multiple Tumor Pathways to Defeat Colorectal Cancer

DUARTE, Calif., Aug. 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A scientific study published in the journal Carcinogenesis revealed that the OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 exhibit multiple anticancer properties against various strains of colorectal cancer. Top researcher Ajay Goel, PhD. and his team discovered several ways that this natural botanical could aid in the fight against cancer.

Currently available cancer drugs affect single targets in cancer cells, allowing many of those cells to follow other strategic survival and progression pathways; essentially, the cancer cells shift to Plan B. Combining chemotherapy drugs may be more effective against the cancer, but that causes more toxicity and intolerable side effects in cancer patients. On top of that, drugs that are effective against one strain of cancer cells may be wholly ineffective against different strains of the same type of cancer.

In this study, researchers discovered that the oligomeric proanythocyanidins (OPCs) in French Grape Seed VX1 solve all of those problems, even at low doses. They conducted a series of experiments, pitting the OPCs against five distinct colorectal cancer cell lines and against regular (unfractionated) grape seed extract (GSE).

The first experiments tested the OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 against five colorectal cancer cell lines. The OPCs effectively stopped the cancer cells through multiple pathways, including inducing cell cycle arrest, inhibiting proliferation, eliminating migration, and inducing apoptosis (programmed cell death). Plus, the OPCs had a much stronger effect than unprocessed GSE on the cancer cells, even at much lower doses.

Next, the researchers tested both OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 and regular GSE in animal models of colorectal cancer. The selective small-molecule OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 are much more absorbable than regular GSE, which is why the OPCs worked substantially more effectively than the GSE. In the animal models, the OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 were five times more effective than GSE at shrinking tumors: OPCs reduced tumor size by 65%, compared to 13% by GSE. That superior effectiveness was also evident when the researchers tested OPCs and GSE in colorectal cancer patient-derived organoids (3-D tissue cultures that accurately replicate human organs). The OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 worked substantially more effectively than the GSE were able to more significantly decrease tumor growth, even at much lower dosages than GSE, and without causing harm to healthy cells.

These results clearly demonstrate that the OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 simultaneously block multiple cancer-promoting pathways without damaging healthy cells, a feat that no single cancer drug has been able to achieve to date. The OPCs in French Grape Seed VX1 also worked substantially more effectively than plain grape seed extract, even at much lower dosages.

Reference:
Ravindranathan P, Pasham D, Balaji U, et al. Mechanistic insights into anticancer properties of oligomeric proanthocyanidins from grape seeds in colorectal cancer. Carcinogenesis. 2018;39(6):767–777. doi:10.1093/carcin/bgy034

Ajay Goel, PhD, AGAF
Dr. Goel is a Professor and Chair, Department of Translational Genomics and Oncology at the Beckman Research Institute City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as Director of Biotech Innovations at the City of Hope Medical Center, in Duarte, California. He has also been recognized as an American Gastrointestinal Association Fellow (AGAF) for his research on colorectal cancer. In fact, Dr. Goel has spent more than 20 years researching cancer and has been the lead author or contributor to over 300 scientific articles published in peer reviewed international journals and several book chapters. He is currently researching the prevention of gastrointestinal cancers using integrative and alternative approaches, including botanical products. Three of the primary botanicals he is investigating are curcumin (from turmeric), boswellia, and French grape seed.

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SOURCE Ajay Goel, PhD, AGAF