$1 million for propolis and turmeric

The US National Cancer Institute is providing $1 million funding to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center to research the anti-cancer properties of turmeric and propolis.

Over the next four years, researchers at Wake Forest will study the potential of propolis, a resinous substance collected by bees from the bark and leaves of trees and plants that has a history of use in folk medicine, and the food spice turmeric, to enhance the effects of radiation therapy.

The active component in propolis is caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), which studies have shown can protect mice against radiation induced inflammation and skin damage, and rats against certain forms of heart muscle damage following chemotherapy treatment.

... “A very interesting property of these compounds is that they have been shown to cause cell death in tumor cells but not in normal cells,” said lead investigator Dr Costas Koumenis, assistant professor of radiation oncology at Wake Forest BaptistMedical Centre.