UGR.es - Researchers of the Catalonian Institute of Oncology (Spain) and the University of Granada (Spain) have discovered that the polyphenols in extra virgin olive oil may help to combat breast cancer, according to a paper published in the last issue of the renowned scientific journal BMC Cancer. The scientists have confirmed the bioactivity of polyphenols (this is, natural antioxidants) present in olive oil in breast cancer cell lines.

The study has proven the anti-HER2 effect of fractions of phenolic compounds directly extracted from extra virgin olive oil in breast cancer cell lines. The extracts were tested for their anti-cancer capacity against both positive HER2 and negative HER2 breast cancers, using in vitro models and evaluating the effect of polyphenolic fractions in the expression and activation of HER2 oncoprotein through ELISA specific methods for HER2. Fractions containing polyphenols such as hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, elenolic acid, lignans, pinoresinol and acetopinoresinol, and secoiridoids, diacetox oleuropein aglycone, ligustrosid aglycone and oleuropein aglycone were able to induce important tumoricidal effects in a micromolar concentration range and in a selective way against HER2 oncogene.

This work has been carried out by Javier A. Menéndez, coordinator of the Translational Research Unit of the Catalonian Institute of Oncology (ICO) in Girona, and by doctors Alberto Fernández Gutiérrez and Antonio Segura Carretero.

Therefore, this study confirms the potentiality of polyphenols to inhibit HER2 activity and to promote its degradation. Such results, together with the fact that humans have consumed secoiridoids and lignans safely for a long time through oil and olive oil consumption, endorse the fact that such phytochemicals could be an excellent and safe basis for the design of new anti-HER2 compounds. Extracts of olive oil polyphenols are also available as over-the-counter dietary supplements.