Phytochemical Allicin, the Potent Anti Liver Cancer Bioactive Compound, According to Scientists

By Kyle J. Norton

Scientists may have found a natural compound for the prevention and treatment of liver cancer with no side effects, according to the studies.

Liver cancer is a condition caused by cell growth irregularly in the liver tissue.

Since the organ is a soft tissue with less nerve, most liver cancer patients are diagnosed in the later stage of cancer and do not experience any symptoms in the early stage.

At the advanced stage, liver cancer cells can travel a distance away to infect the healthy cells of other tissue and organs, leading secondary metastasis.

According to the statistic, liver cancer remains the fifth most common malignancy in men and the eighth in women worldwide. In Canada, 2,500 Canadians were diagnosed with liver cancer. The disease caused 1200 death in 2017.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common form of primary liver cancer.

Besides the most common symptoms associated with all cancers, liver cancer patients may experience symptoms of abdominal swelling, jaundice, and white, chalky stools.

Although aging, gender, ethnicity, other liver diseases, hepatitis viruses, obesity is considered one the major risk factor associated with the onset of the disease.

Dr. Aleksandrova K, the lead author examined the obesity in the risk of liver cancer, said, “Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes is an increasingly recognized trigger for liver cancer in Western populations characterized by low prevalence of established risk factors for liver cancer such as viral hepatitis and hepatotoxin exposure”.

And, “Recent evidence has implicated several molecular pathways in obesity-associated liver cancer. These include insulin resistance leading to increased levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factors, chronic inflammation, adipose tissue remodeling, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, and adipokine secretion, and altered gut microbiota”.

Allicin is phytochemical containing sulfur in the class of organosulfur compound, found abundantly in onion and garlic.

With an aim to find a natural compound with no side effects for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) which is the most prevalent type of liver cancer globally and ranks first among the cancer-related mortalities in Taiwan, researchers examined the modes of cell death mechanism induced by allicin, a major phytochemical of crushed garlic, in human hepatoma cells.

Allicin treatment was found to induce autophagic cell death in human HCC Hep G2 (p53(wild-type)) cells.

Furthermore, allicin induced apoptotic cell death through proteins associated with pro apoptosis

Moreover, allicin activates the reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction to induce cytotoxicity against the human HCC Hep 3B (p53(mutation)) cells without causing harms to the nearby healthy cells.

The finding strongly suggested that allicin protects the normal through its antioxidant activity without inducing inhibition of the overexpression of free radicals.

Additionally, allicin treatment induced apoptotic cell death through gene (p53) involved cell cycle arrest similar to that of Hep 3B cells.

Dr. Chu YL, the lead scientist after taking into account co and confounders, wrote, “allicin induced cell death in human hepatoma cells through either autophagy or apoptosis”.

And, “(allicin) might be a potential novel complementary gene therapeutic agent for the treatment of apoptosis-resistant cancer cells”.

Taken altogether, phytochemical allicin may be considered a bioactive compound for the prevention and combined with primary medicine for the treatment of liver cancer.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it’s news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada – Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References
(1) Allicin induces anti-human liver cancer cells through the p53 gene modulating apoptosis and autophagy by Chu YL, Ho CT, Chung JG, Raghu R, Lo YC, Sheen LY. (PubMed)
(2) Obesity and Liver Cancer by Aleksandrova K1, Stelmach-Mardas M2,3, Schlesinger S. (PubMed)