Findings of a recent study suggest that drinking coffee may help delay risk of prostate cancer.
If the findings of a latest study can be believed, drinking coffee may help delay risk of prostate cancer. According to researchers, the findings could help pave way for treating drug-resistant cancer.
The recent study was performed by scientists from Kanazawa University in Japan who identified kahweol acetate and cafestol- hydrocarbon compounds naturally found in Arabica coffee — which may inhibit growth of prostate cancer.
The pilot study presented at the European Association of Urology Congress in Barcelona, suggested that kahweol acetate and cafestol may possibly play a role in inhibiting growth in cells that are resistant to common anti-cancer drugs like Cabazitaxel.
“We found that kahweol acetate and cafestol inhibited growth of cancer cells in mice, but the combination seemed to work synergistically, leading to a significantly slower tumour growth than in untreated mice,” said the lead author Mr. Iwamoto.
The study team tested six compounds that are naturally found in coffee, on proliferation of human prostate cancers cells in vitro (i.e. in a petri-dish). Their findings revealed that cells treated with kahweol acetate and cafestol grew more slowly than controls. The team then tested these compounds on prostate cancer cells, transplanted to 16 mice.
“After 11 days, the untreated tumors had grown by around three and a half times the original volume (342 per cent), whereas tumors in the mice treated with both compounds had grown by just over one and a half (167 per cent) times the original size,” Mr. Iwamoto said.
The growth reduction in transplanted tumor cells were much prominent that in native tumor cells.
Even though these are promising findings, they should not make people change their coffee consumption because it can have both positive and negative effects. More research is needed to find out more about the mechanisms behind these findings before anyone can consider clinical applications.