Study Finds Indian Spice Long Pepper Useful in Fighting Cancer

Study Finds Indian Spice Long Pepper Useful in Fighting Cancer

According to a new study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers have discovered that the widely used Indian spice named Long Pepper has the potential to be used as a cancer treatment drug. The Indian long pepper contains a chemical called Piperlongumine (PL) that

could stop the body from producing an enzyme that is commonly found in tumors in large numbers.

iii. It can be used for curing many cancers including prostate, breast, lung, colon, lymphoma, leukemia, primary brain tumors and gastric cancer.

iv .The scientists from the UT Southwestern Medical Center used x-ray crystallography to create molecular structures and study how the chemical is transformed after being ingested.

v. The study showed that PL converts to hPL which is an active drug that silences a gene called GSTP1 which produces a detoxification enzyme that is found abundantly in tumors