An Indian-origin scientist in the University of Texas Health Science Center, US, has claimed that extract of cork tree, used in Chinese medicine, can help in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
![‘Chinese Cork Tree Extract Proves to be Boon for Pancreatic Cancer Patients’ ‘Chinese Cork Tree Extract Proves to be Boon for Pancreatic Cancer Patients’](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/cancer-ribbon.jpg)
Pratap Kumar, the study's principal investigator and a professor of urology in the School of Medicine at the Health Science Center, said, “Fibrosis is a process of uncontrolled scarring around a tumour gland. Once you have fibrotic tissue, the drugs cannot get into the cancer."
The extract of Phellodendron amurense can block the development path of the tumour and also checks the scarring process that stops the anti-cancer drugs from entering the cancer. It has also been found to curb enzyme Cox-2 that causes inflammation within the tumours.
Kumar was already working on the potential of cork tree extract in the treatment of prostrate cancer. The extract has been declared safe for use of cancer patients.
At present, the extract is available as a dietary supplement, which is marketed as Nexrutine by Next Pharmaceuticals of Salinas, California. The study was published in journal Clinical Cancer Research.
Source-Medindia