Blackberry, Black Raspberry, Blueberry, Cranberry, Red Raspberry, and Strawberry Extracts Inhibit Growth and Stimulate Apoptosis of Human Cancer Cells In Vitro

Navindra P. Seeram,* Lynn S. Adams, Yanjun Zhang, Rupo Lee, Daniel Sand, Henry S. Scheuller, and David Heber
Center for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095
J. Agric. Food Chem., 2006, 54 (25), pp 9329–9339
DOI: 10.1021/jf061750g
Publication Date (Web): November 18, 2006
Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society
*

 To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Navindra Seeram, Center for Human Nutrition, 900 Veteran Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Tel:  (310) 825-6150; fax:  (310) 206-5264; e-mail:  nseeram@ mednet.ucla.edu.

Abstract

Berry fruits are widely consumed in our diet and have attracted much attention due to their potential human health benefits. Berries contain a diverse range of phytochemicals with biological properties such as antioxidant, anticancer, anti-neurodegerative, and anti-inflammatory activities. In the current study, extracts of six popularly consumed berriesblackberry, black raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, red raspberry and strawberrywere evaluated for their phenolic constituents using high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) detection. The major classes of berry phenolics were anthocyanins, flavonols, flavanols, ellagitannins, gallotannins, proanthocyanidins, and phenolic acids. The berry extracts were evaluated for their ability to inhibit the growth of human oral (KB, CAL-27), breast (MCF-7), colon (HT-29, HCT116), and prostate (LNCaP) tumor cell lines at concentrations ranging from 25 to 200 μg/mL. With increasing concentration of berry extract, increasing inhibition of cell proliferation in all of the cell lines were observed, with different degrees of potency between cell lines. The berry extracts were also evaluated for their ability to stimulate apoptosis of the COX-2 expressing colon cancer cell line, HT-29. Black raspberry and strawberry extracts showed the most significant pro-apoptotic effects against this cell line. The data provided by the current study and from other laboratories warrants further investigation into the chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic effects of berries using in vivo models.

Keywords: Berries; polyphenols; antiproliferative; apoptosis; cancer

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History

  • Published In Issue December 13, 2006
  • Received for review June 21, 2006. Revised manuscript received October 11, 2006. Accepted October 13, 2006. Funding for this project was partially provided by the California Strawberry Commission, (Watsonville, CA) and from the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition NCI Grant PO1CA42710.

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