Cancer: Using Blackseed Oil to Treat Cancer
CANCER
Using Black Seed Oil to Treat Cancer
Thymoquinone (TQ) has been shown to modulate nine out of the ten hallmarks of cancer, but with a more thorough investigation it could well be found that the blackseed modulates ten out of the ten hallmarks of cancer.
Experts are urging more research into thymoquinone, which is the active main constituent in black seed oil; to see just how effective the Black Cumin Seed (Blackseed) is in being a cancer killer.
Cancer depending on what form of cancer, in the most basic explanation is cells gone wrong, the cause of it is most often not discovered, and of which malignant cancers are the ones to be most worried about.
Many studies have shown the effects of Nigella Sativa (Blackseed) on various different cancer cells, and the list is long offering up over 57 reviewed papers on the subject finding Black Cumin (blackseed) to be effective against cancers such as blood, breast, colon, pancreatic, lung, leukemia, skin, fibrosarcoma, renal, prostate, and cervical cancer.
Anticancer effects are mediated through different modes of action, including cell cycle arrest, apoptosis induction, ROS generation and anti-metastasis/anti-angiogenesis, and anti-proliferation. Additionally anticancer activity was also found to exhibited through modulation of multiple molecular targets including p53, p73, PTEN, STAT3, PPAR, activation of caspases, and generation of ROS.
Extracted from Nigella Sativa (Blackseed); thymoquinone has been investigated for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties since the 1960’s in vitro and vivo models, as it may act as a superoxide and free radical scavenger to go along with preserving activity of various antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione-S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase. Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidants effects have been reported in various disease models of diabetes, carcinogenesis, asthma, and encephalomyelitis.
In a large review of studies conducted on black Cumin (Blackseed), investigating its role as an anticancer agent it was explained that many active ingredients have been found within the seeds containing fixed and essential oils, proteins, alkaloids and saponin, which described quantification of 4 pharmacologically important components: thymoquinone (TQ), dithymoquinone, thymohydroquinone, and thymol within blackseed oil, by HPLC.
Black Cumin (Blackseed) has been shown to provide effective protection against the toxicity of the drug cyclophosphamide, suggesting administration of Blackseed Oil with its thymoquinone content can lower CTX induced toxicity by upregulation of antioxidant mechanisms, indicating the potential to minimise toxic effects of treatment with anticancer drugs.
Nigella Sativa Oil (Blackseed) has been recommended as a natural radioprotective agent against immunosuppressive and oxidative effects of ionizing radiation.
Nigella Sativa (blackseed) has been shown to inhibit colon carcinogenesis of rats in the post initiation stage of epilepsy studies, that may be associated with suppression of cell proliferation in the colonic mucosa with no adverse side effects.
Antineoplastic activities of thymoquinone have been demonstrated in multiple cancers, including that cancer cells have been shown to be unable to produce fibroblast growth factor and protein collagenase after being incubated with Nigella extract.
Angiogenesis was blocked by thymoquinone in vitro and vivo preventing angiogenesis in xenograft human prostate cancer mouse models, and inhibited human prostate tumor growth at low doses with almost no chemotoxic side effects.
Thymoquinone has also been shown to suppress growth and invasion, and to induce apoptosis of glial tumour cells via degrading tubulins and inhibiting 20S proteasome, telomerase, autophagy, FAK and metalloproteinases.
Thymoquinone was shown to increase sub-G1 accumulation and annexin-V positive staining indicating apoptotic induction. Thymoquinone was observed to be more potent than cisplatin in elimination of SiHa cells via apoptosis with down regulation of Bcl-2 proteins.
Too, thymoquinone triggers apoptotic cell death in human colorectal cancer cells.
