Pomegranate against colon cancer

Urolithin A, a metabolic product of the pomegranate, can apparently strengthen the immune system against colon cancer. This is suggested by laboratory tests. Tests on humans are now to follow.

An acti­ve ingre­dient from the pome­gra­na­te may be sui­ta­ble for figh­t­ing colon can­cer. In cli­ni­cal stu­dies, rese­ar­chers at the Frank­furt Can­cer Insti­tu­te want to con­firm what they found in labo­ra­to­ry expe­ri­ments: uro­li­t­hin A, a meta­bo­li­te of the pome­gra­na­te, can pro­bab­ly chan­ge human immu­ne cells so that they can fight tumors better.

The sci­en­tists found that uro­li­t­hin A in T cells pro­mo­tes the repla­ce­ment of older and dama­ged mito­chon­dria with new ones. Mito­chon­dria are the “power plants” of the cell. Accord­ing to the stu­dy, the gene­tic pro­gram of the immu­ne cells chan­ges as a result of the exchan­ge, so that they can attack can­cer cells better.

In the labo­ra­to­ry, uro­li­t­hin A can limit tumor growth and pro­mo­te the for­ma­ti­on of memo­ry T cells, from which new T cells can deve­lop. Appar­ent­ly, the sub­s­tance also enhan­ces the effect of other drugs, so that it may be sui­ta­ble for com­bi­na­ti­on therapies.

Source

• Frank­fur­ter All­ge­mei­ne Zei­tung
  
  https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/frankfurt/granatapfel-wirkstoff-koennte-gegen-darmkrebs-helfen-18426707.html?GEPC=s5
• Expan­si­on of T memo­ry stem cells with supe­ri­or anti-tumor immu­ni­ty by Uro­li­t­hin A‑induced mitopha­gy
  
  https://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(22)00508–8?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1074761322005088%3Fshowall%3Dtrue