Sandalwood oil stopped cancer in transgenic mice
In past laboratory experiments, alpha-santalol, the main component of sandalwood oil, suppressed the growth of prostate cancer cells cultured outside the body. In the new study, its anti-cancer efficacy was confirmed in genetically modified mice.
Sandalwood oil, extracted from the wood of the evergreen tropical tree Santalum album, has been included in perfumes, soaps, incense and candles for centuries. Also, this essential oil with a strong sweet and woody aroma is used in the food industry and cosmetic preparations.
In addition, due to its phytochemical components, sandalwood oil has many health benefits ranging from antibacterial to anti-cancer. Sandalwood oil contains esters, free acids, aldehydes, ketones, and santhenone, but is 90 percent or more composed of two isomers of santalol, alpha and beta santalol.
The anticarcinogenic effects of sandalwood oil and its components have long interested scientists. In one study, a team of U.S. pharmacologists and medical scientists led by Ajay Bommareddy of Florida Atlantic University's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine demonstrated that alpha-santalol induces apoptotic death in cultured human prostate cancer cells.
In a fresh series of experiments, Bommareddy and colleagues took male transgenic mice modeling human prostate cancer with varying degrees of lesions and progression for experiments. Animals aged five to six weeks for 20 weeks intraperitoneally injected either simple saline (control group) or a mixture with alpha-santalol at a rate of 100 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (experimental group). Injections were given three times a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
During the study, the mice were monitored by recording their weight weekly. After 20 weeks, the subjects were killed, after which their vital organs, including the urogenital tract and prostate, were examined.
By examining the prostate glands and tumors of mice from the control and experimental groups, the scientists found that the area of unaffected tissue in the latter was larger and amounted to 53 percent versus 12 percent in the former. The use of alpha santalol reduced the incidence of visible prostate tumors. In addition, the average weight of the urogenital tract and prostate gland in those receiving the sandalwood oil component was nearly 75 percent and 53 percent (respectively) less compared to control animals.
Thus, the researchers found for the first time that administration of a solution containing alpha-santalol slowed the development of prostate cancer in mice by reducing cancer cell overgrowth and inducing apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Importantly, no weight loss or other obvious side effects were noticed in the test animals.
Bommareddy and his team plan to continue research on alpha-santalol and its use as an anti-tumor agent.