2024-02-17 10:00:57
Extracted from the heart of sandalwood trees (santalum album tree), sandalwood oil has been used for many centuries by several cultures around the world in the design of perfumes, soaps, incense and candles. This essential oil is also used in the food industry and in various cosmetic products.
Lead author Ajay Bommareddy, associate professor of pharmacology at FAU, recalls that this natural oil is already known for its health benefits and antibacterial and anticancer medicinal applications. In question, its phytochemical constituents: in addition to its esters, free acids, aldehydes, ketones and santénone, sandalwood oil contains santalol – that is, in equivalent quantities of alpha and beta-santalol.
Previous research had already suggested the effectiveness of alpha-santalol in slowing growth and inducing apoptotic cell death, in vitroon human prostate cancer cell lines.
Alpha-santalol as a chemopreventive and antitumor agent?
The study is, however, the first to document alive these chemo-preventive properties, specifically once morest prostate cancer and in a transgenic mouse model. This work reveals that:
- administration of alpha-santalol reduces the incidence of prostate tumors by decreasing cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis;
- without causing notable side effects, such as weight loss for example;
- in cancer model mice, but treated with alpha-santalol, the surface occupied by healthy tissues reached 53% vs. 12% in control mice;
- the administration of alpha-santalol therefore helps protect normal tissues and delays the progression of precancerous disease towards carcinoma;
- only 11% of treated mice developed aggressive prostate tumors, while this is the case for more than half of untreated models;
- the average prostate weight of treated mice is 52.9% lower than that of control mice.
“While studies on cells have already provided important information on the mechanisms at play, in vivo studies remain essential for developing new chemo-preventive agents for clinical use. Here we will need to determine whether alpha-santalol offers protection once morest prostate cancer in men.”
While prostate cancer is still the second leading cause of cancer death among men, current treatments for prostate cancer, which include androgen ablation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and radical prostatectomy, are ineffective once morest prostate cancer. advanced cancers, it is essential to identify new agents capable of selectively targeting cancer cells and delaying the onset and progression of this prostate cancer.
These results are therefore valuable and promising, however the effectiveness and safety of alpha-santalol as a chemo-preventive and anti-tumor agent in humans remains to be explored.
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