Institute researchers National Polytechnic (IPN), revealed that the extract of the plant Verbesina persicifoliacommonly known as “huichín,” it reduces triple-negative breast cancer tumors by 40 percent.
This result was obtained after three weeks of treatment of animal models with the compound made with said medicinal plant, as explained by Dr. María del Carmen Cruz López, project manager carried out at the Center for Applied Biotechnology Research (CIBA) Tlaxcala.
Thanks to the biological activity of the compound obtained from the plant, he said, in the future there is the possibility of having a new treatment to combat aggressive, triple-negative breast cancer with a poor prognosis.
The researcher explained that they made an extract from the plant Verbesina persicifoliafrom which the compounds were separated, a sesquiterpene-type compound was obtained, which we tested in the wild state in wistar rats, previously inoculated with triple-negative mammary carcinoma cells.
The specialist from the polytechnic recalled that after treating the animals they verified its efficacy and even, furthering the study to investigate how the molecule works, modified its chemical structure and they observed that with the modifications, the anti-tumor activity of the compound improved.
“The new molecule reduced the tumor developed by rats by 40 percent, compared to a drug used to treat this type of tumor, which reduced the tumor mass by 55 percent,” stressed the professor aggregated to the National System of Researchers (Sni). I
Finally, he underlined that, importantly, since triple-negative breast cancer cells do not have receptors and therefore it is difficult to find or design drugs that inhibit tumor growth, “fortunately we have verified that the sesquiterpene under study is able to generate regression of the tumor,” said Cruz López.
