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Natural Compounds Trigger Tumor Cell Death

September 4, 2002

(Journal of the National Cancer Institute) -- New research provides insight into how a natural compound found in hot chili peppers makes tumor cells commit suicide. The work is described in the September 4 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

According to Numsen Hail, Jr. and Reuben Lotan, Ph.D., of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, capsaicin, and a related compound called resiniferatoxin, cause tumor cells to self-destruct by starving them of oxygen. Capsaicin and resiniferatoxin are natural compounds known as vanilloids.

The researchers exposed human skin cancer cells to capsaicin and resiniferatoxin and found that a majority of the cells died. The process was associated with an increase in permeability of the inner mitochondrial membrane and a decrease in oxygen consumption. These findings suggest that vanilloids may be useful for preventing or treating skin cancers.

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