Phytochemicals in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Treatment-Review on the Current Trends of Therapies

Our plain-English summary of Phytochemicals in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Treatment-Review on the Current Trends of Therapies, by M. Chmielewska-Kassassir, L.A. Wozniak (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2021).

The study

• Authors: M. Chmielewska-Kassassir, L.A. Wozniak
• Journal: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Published: 2021;22(15)
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare but highly aggressive tumor of pleura arising in response to asbestos fibers exposure. MPM is frequently diagnosed in the advanced stage of the disease and causes poor prognostic outcomes. From the clinical perspective, MPM is resistant to conventional treatment, thus challenging the therapeutic options. There is still demand for improvement and sensitization of MPM cells to therapy in light of intensive clinical studies on chemotherapeutic drugs, including immuno-modulatory and targeted therapies. One way is looking for natural sources, whole plants, and extracts whose ingredients, especially polyphenols, have potential anticancer properties. This comprehensive review summarizes the current studies on natural compounds and plant extracts in developing new treatment strategies for MPM.

In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. The authors summarized published research on plant-derived compounds (phytochemicals, mainly polyphenols) and plant extracts as possible treatments for malignant pleural mesothelioma. This is a tumor of the pleura that the authors described as arising in about 80% of cases from past asbestos exposure, mostly at work. They also briefly described targeted drugs and immunotherapies under study. The research they reviewed was mostly laboratory work on mesothelioma cells and on mice, not treatment of patients. In the studies reviewed, curcumin and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) were reported to cause mesothelioma cell death. Resveratrol, given with a low dose of the chemotherapy drug clofarabine or cisplatin, was reported to inhibit mesothelioma cell growth. Quercetin combined with cisplatin was reported to work better than either agent alone. An artichoke leaf extract added to the diet was reported to reduce tumor size in mice. The authors also described their own earlier study, in which an evening primrose seed extract showed anti-metastatic effects on two invasive mesothelioma cell lines. The authors concluded that natural extracts might improve the tolerance and efficacy of mesothelioma treatment.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: narrative review of published studies (no search method, number of studies or date range stated)
• Who was studied: Research on malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), described by the authors as arising in about 80% of cases from prolonged, mostly occupational, asbestos exposure. The studies reviewed were mainly laboratory studies on human MPM cell lines and mouse models.
• Exposure: Not an asbestos exposure study. The 'exposures' reviewed were plant compounds tested as treatments: curcumin, EGCG, resveratrol, quercetin, gallic acid, cafestol, kahweol, hesperidin, honokiol, licochalcone A, withaferin A and ursolic acid. Some were combined with chemotherapy drugs (cisplatin, clofarabine, gemcitabine). Plant extracts were also reviewed: a nutrient mixture with green tea extract, artichoke leaf extract, and evening primrose seed extract.
• Main results:
  • Curcumin was reported in reviewed studies to cause mesothelioma cell death.
  • In the reviewed EGCG studies, EGCG treatment induced mesothelioma cell death.
  • In laboratory mesothelioma cells, resveratrol given with a low dose of clofarabine or cisplatin inhibited cell growth.
  • In a reviewed cell study, quercetin combined with cisplatin was more effective than either agent alone.
  • The coffee diterpenes cafestol and kahweol were reported to induce MPM cell apoptosis through lowering of the Sp1 protein. Similar Sp1-related effects were described for hesperidin, honokiol and licochalcone A.
  • In a reviewed study (Pulito et al.), artichoke leaf extract added to the diet reduced MPM tumor size in mouse xenografts.
  • In the authors' own earlier study, evening primrose (Oenothera paradoxa) seed extract showed anti-metastatic activity against two invasive MPM cell lines. In unpublished work, the authors did not see this activity when single phenolic compounds from the extract were used alone.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that adding natural extracts to MPM treatment might improve how well the therapy is tolerated and how well it works.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pleural Mesothelioma, Pleura.

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