Anticancer activity of botanical compounds in ancient fermented beverages (Review)

• Published in: International journal of oncology Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 5 - 14
• Main Authors: MCGOVERN, P. E, CHRISTOFIDOU-SOLOMIDOU, M, WANG, W, DUKES, F, DAVIDSON, T, EL-DEIRY, W. S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Athens Editorial Academy of the International Journal of Oncology 01.07.2010
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - isolation & purification; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - pharmacology; Archaeology; Beverages - analysis; Biological and medical sciences; China; Drug Discovery - history; Drug Discovery - methods; Egypt, Ancient; Fermentation - physiology; Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen; History of Medicine; History, Ancient; Humans; Medical sciences; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Stomach. Duodenum. Small intestine. Colon. Rectum. Anus; Tumors; Antineoplastic agent; Wine; herbal wine; Lewis lung carcinoma; Carcinoma; Spontaneous; Artemisinin; p53; Alcoholic beverage; Chinese medicine; Colon cancer; Cancerology; TP53 Gene; Folk medicine; Artesunate; Intestinal disease; Tumor suppressor gene; Lung disease; Colon adenocarcinoma; Respiratory disease; Rodentia; Malignant tumor; ancient medicine; Biological activity; Traditional Chinese Medicine; biomolecular archaeology; Colonic disease; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Mouse; isoscopoletin; Digestive diseases; Bibliographic review; HCT116 colon adenocarcinoma; Cancer
• ISSN: 1019-6439; 1791-2423
• DOI: 10.3892/ijo_00000647

Humans around the globe probably discovered natural remedies against disease and cancer by trial and error over the millennia. Biomolecular archaeological analyses of ancient organics, especially plants dissolved or decocted as fermented beverages, have begun to reveal the preliterate histories of traditional pharmacopeias, which often date back thousands of years earlier than ancient textual, ethnohistorical, and ethnological evidence. In this new approach to drug discovery, two case studies from ancient Egypt and China illustrate how ancient medicines can be reconstructed from chemical and archaeological data and their active compounds delimited for testing their anticancer and other medicinal effects. Specifically, isoscopoletin from Artemisia argyi, artemisinin from Artemisia annua, and the latter's more easily assimilated semi-synthetic derivative, artesunate, showed the greatest activity in vitro against lung and colon cancers. In vivo tests of these compounds previously unscreened against lung and pancreatic cancers are planned for the future.