South Korean researchers used an antioxidant found in plants such as grapes, to create a hydrogel, which can effectively suppress cancer cell growth.
South Korean researchers at Ajou University recently used resveratrol, an antioxidant found in plants such as grapes, to create a hydrogel, which can effectively suppress cancer cell growth—a possible cure for breast cancer.
Kim and his researchers developed a hyaluronic acid-based hydrogel containing antioxidant resveratrol, which can effectively treat triple-negative breast cancer.
What Is Triple-Negative Breast Cancer?
Triple-negative breast cancer occurs when the body lacks estrogen and progesterone receptors and doesn’t make enough or any of the hormone epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) protein.
About 15 to 20 percent of breast cancer patients have triple-negative breast cancer, a highly malignant disease. It’s most commonly found in young women and has a rapid growth rate.
Currently, the primary treatment for triple-negative breast cancer is chemotherapy—the downside of which is that patients can develop drug resistance over time, which significantly lowers the survival rate for those facing this breast cancer.
Hence, a new effective treatment to cure this lethal breast cancer is urgently needed.
What Is Resveratrol?
Resveratrol is a polyphenol found in more than 300 edible plants, such as grapes, blueberries, cranberries, peanuts, and cocoa.
Resveratrol helps plants combat external injury, bacterial infections, and ultraviolet radiation.
Resveratrol also activates the self-destructive gene of the cancer cells, thereby suppressing their growth.
However, resveratrol comes with limitations. It degrades rapidly in the body, making its antioxidant efficacy limited to a short period of time.
The Solution
To tackle the issue, Ajou University’s research group injected resveratrol-made drugs directly into cancer tissues to create an organic degradable hyaluronic acid hydrogel. Once injected directly into the malignant tissues of triple-negative breast cancer, the hydrogel improved biostability and extended the survival time of resveratrol in cancer cells.
The research group also confirmed that tumors shrink more when injected with hydrogel than when resveratrol was used alone.
Kim said the research shows the anti-cancer efficacy of hyaluronic acid-hydrogel preparations.
“Other than breast cancer, we look forward to treating various cancers,” he said.
He added that the newly discovered technology could also generate a convenient drug that could minimize cancer patients’ side effects.