Molecules extracted from the popular Ginko biloba plant have been shown to have various actions of potential medical interest, from anti-inflammatory to antioxidant activities, up to possible anticancer properties. One of these, isoginkgetine, belonging to the flavonoid family, was studied by the Molecular Neuropathology Laboratory of the Neuropathology Unit of the Irccs Neuromed in Pozzilli. The researchers, who published their results in the scientific journal Molecules, tested the molecule on cells of a particular type of brain tumor: glioblastoma, which is particularly aggressive and the most widespread.
Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy – Neuromed stated in a note – are the fundamental weapons available to medicine. Unfortunately those cells often develop resistance against the drugs. For this reason, potential therapies to be associated with the standard ones are being investigated with the aim of increasing the effectiveness of the latter. “We treated isoginkgetine – says Antonella Arcella, head of the study – glioblastoma cells grown in the laboratory. We were thus able to see that their growth was inhibited, while the ability to migrate was also reduced, a critical factor in the spread of the tumor to the deeper analysis allowed us to see that these positive effects were essentially due to the reactivation, in tumor cells, of the processes of apoptosis (programmed cell death, ed) and of autophagy (the mechanism by which the cell ‘recycles’ its components, ed)”.
The therapeutic standards, of course, remain the cornerstone of the fight against this brain tumor – the Institute points out -. Isoginkgetine could go down alongside them to enhance their action. “Naturally – continues Arcella – further studies will be needed before a possible therapeutic use. Our next step will be to verify how tumor cells behave under the combined action of isoginkgetin and standard chemotherapy, in particular the drug temozolomide, the main weapon against glioblastoma. We aim for a synergistic strengthening of the anticancer action”, he concludes.