General Direct Anticancer Effects of Deer Growing Antler Extract in Several Tumour Cell Lines, and Immune System-Mediated Effects in Xenograft Glioblastoma.

in Pharmaceutics by Alessandra Rossetti, Louis Chonco, Nicolas Alegría, Veronica Zelli, Andrés J García, Carmen Ramírez-Castillejo, Alessandra Tessitore, Carlos de Cabo, Tomás Landete-Castillejos, Claudio Festuccia

TLDR

  • Researchers tested a special extract from deer antlers on different types of cancer cells and found that it reduced the growth of the cancer cells. They also tested the extract on mice with cancer and found that it reduced the size of the tumor and the spleen. The study suggests that this extract may be a future medicine to fight cancer, but more research is needed to understand how it works and if it has any side effects.

Abstract

Deer antlers are the fastest growing tissue. Because they are based on proto-oncogenes, to avoid the risk of cancer, antlers evolved strong anticancer mechanisms, and thus their extract (DVA) is effective also against the few human tumours studied so far. We assessed whether DVA is a general anticancer compound by testing the direct effects in cells of different tumours: glioblastoma (GBM; lines U87MG and U251), colorectal (CRC; lines DLD-1, HT-29, SW480, and SW620), breast cancer (BRCA; lines MCF7, SKBR3, and PA00), and leukaemia (THP-1). DVA reduced the viability of tumours but not healthy cells (NHC; lines 293T and HaCaT). Mobility decreased at least for the longest test (72 h). Intraperitoneal/oral 200 mg DVA/kg administration in GBM xenograft mice for 28 d reduced tumour weight by 66.3% and 61.4% respectively, and it also reduced spleen weight (43.8%). In addition, tumours treated with DVA showed symptoms of liquefactive necrosis. Serum cytokines showed DVA up-regulated factors related to tumour fighting and down-regulated those related to inducing immune tolerance to the tumour. DVA shows general anticancer effects in the lines tested and, in GBM mice, also strong indirect effects apparently mediated by the immune system. DVA may contain a future anticancer medicine without secondary effects.

Overview

  • The study aimed to assess the general anticancer effects of deer antler velvet extract (DVA) in cells of different tumors: glioblastoma (GBM), colorectal (CRC), breast cancer (BRCA), and leukaemia (THP-1).
  • The study used direct effects testing on cells and intraperitoneal/oral administration in GBM xenograft mice for 28 days. The primary objective was to determine the effectiveness of DVA in reducing tumor weight and spleen weight, as well as inducing liquefactive necrosis in tumors.

Comparative Analysis & Findings

  • DVA reduced the viability of tumor cells but not healthy cells. Mobility decreased in all tumor lines tested, with the longest test showing the most significant reduction. Intraperitoneal/oral administration of DVA reduced tumor weight by 66.3% and 61.4% in GBM xenograft mice, respectively, and also reduced spleen weight by 43.8%.

Implications and Future Directions

  • The study's findings suggest that DVA has general anticancer effects and may contain a future anticancer medicine without secondary effects. However, the study has limitations, such as the small number of tumor lines tested and the need for further research to determine the long-term effects of DVA on the immune system and cancer progression.
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