SW620 Colon Cancer
and
Antioxidants
Research of 2016
Due to consumption of food & water, breathing, metabolism, sun radiation, pollution, etc., free radicals are created in our body. Such radicals are molecules that need an electron to be stable. In order to do so, they grab an electron from the neighbouring molecule. This chain reaction is known as oxidative stress, which is controlled by reactive oxygen species (ROS).
Fortunately, we have something called antioxidants. They counteract the effects of oxidative stress. Thus their balance is essential for various cellular activities such as transcription of proteins, cell replication, apoptosis, signaling, etc.
Due to reasons mentioned in the figure (on the right), cancer cells have elevated levels of oxidative stress. They use high levels of ROS to transcribe certain proteins. For instance, NF-kB protein is activated which allows them to keep on proliferating infinitely. On the other hand, such high levels of oxidative stress deactivate p53 protein which is responisble for apoptosis. Hence ROS allows them to keep dividing while avoiding apoptosis .
To prove this, different antioxidant by the name of Turmeric, Ashwagandha, and Astragalus were added to SW620 colon cancer cell line. They were incubated for three days, then the percentage of dead cells were calculated for each antioxidant. The same procedure was conducted for the control groups: Dimethyl sulfoxide (solvent) and untreated cells.
Since antioxidants can counteract the effects of oxidative stress, they can be used to cure cancer. When antoxidants are added to the cancer cells, they reduce levels of ROS hence NF-kB is deactivated and p53 protein becomes active again. Due to this, cancer cells can't proliferate further and apoptosis starts killing them.
This bar graph shows an analysis of five trails, and the error bars represent standard deviation. The results support my hypothesis that antioxidants do kill cancer cells. Moreover, it is worthy to note that Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is the best antioxidant among them all.
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