
Extracted from the core of sandalwood trees (santalum album tree), sandalwood oil has been used for a lot of centuries by several cultures throughout the world for perfume, soaps, incense and candles. With its earthy sweet scent, this essential oil is also utilized in the food industry and topically in various cosmetic preparations.
Importantly, this natural oil is thought for its health advantages and medicinal applications from antibacterial to anticancer due to its phytochemical constituents. Along with containing esters, free acids, aldehydes, ketones and santenone, sandalwood oil primarily (90 percent or more) constitutes santalol – equal amounts of two compounds, alpha and beta-santalol.
Now, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators are the primary to show in vivo the chemo-preventive properties of alpha-santalol against prostate cancer development using a transgenic mouse model.
Results of the study, published within the journal Phytomedicine Plus, showed that administration of alpha-santalol decreased the incidence of prostate tumors by decreasing cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis, without causing weight reduction or any noticeable uncomfortable side effects. Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a technique the body uses to do away with unneeded or abnormal cells akin to cancer cells.
Findings revealed that the realm occupied by normal tissue in alpha-santalol-treated mice was 53 percent in comparison with 12 percent on top of things mice. This means that administering alpha-santalol protected the traditional tissue and delayed progression from prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, a precancerous condition, to poorly differentiated carcinoma, a high-grade type of cancer where cancer cells and tissue look very abnormal. These results are significant because mortality in prostate cancer patients is principally attributable to advanced stages of the disease.
In prior studies, the researchers demonstrated the efficacy of alpha-santalol in suppressing growth and inducing apoptotic cell death in cultured human prostate cancer cells. Based on these observations, they chose a genetically engineered mouse model that resembles many features much like human prostate cancer, eliciting different lesion grades and cancer progression.
Although our cellular studies provided essential mechanistic insights, relevant in vivo models are vital for developing novel chemo-preventive agents for clinical use and to find out if alpha-santalol offers protection against prostate cancer development. Prior to this latest study, alpha-santalol’s in vivo efficacy against prostate cancer development had not yet been established.”
Ajay Bommareddy, Ph.D., senior creator and associate professor of pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Science, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine
Additional findings of the present study showed alpha-santalol reduced the incidence of visible prostate tumors in comparison with control-treated mice. Only 11 percent within the treated group developed prostate tumors whereas greater than half within the control group developed the tumors. The differences in urogenital and prostate weights were statistically significantly different in alpha-santalol-treated mice compared with controls. The common wet weight of urogenital tract in alpha-santalol treated mice was about 74.28 percent lower compared with control mice. Similarly, the common wet weight of the prostate gland was lower by 52.9 percent compared with control mice.
Prostate cancer is the second leading reason for cancer death in men in the USA. An estimated 288,300 latest cases were diagnosed in American men last yr with about 34,700 estimated deaths.
Current treatment methods for prostate cancer include androgen ablation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and radical prostatectomy, but are ineffective against advanced prostate cancers. Early detection and native therapy have resulted in improved outcomes but has been difficult with the management of advanced stages.
“Identifying agents which have the flexibility to selectively goal cancerous cells and delay onset and progression of prostate cancer is greatly needed,” said Bommareddy. “Additional studies are essential to systemically explore the feasibility of alpha-santalol as a promising chemo-preventive and anti-tumor agent against human prostate cancer development and to elucidate the mechanisms surrounding the role of pro-apoptotic and antiapoptotic proteins.”
Study co-authors are John Oberlin Jr., PharmD; Kaitlyn Blankenhorn, PharmD; Sarah Hughes, PharmD; Erica Mabry, PharmD; Aaron Knopp, PharmD; Adam L. VanWert, PharmD, Ph.D., all with the Wilkes University Nesbitt School of Pharmacy; Chandradhar Dwivedi, Ph.D., South Dakota State University; Isaiah Pinkerton, a graduate of Wilkes University; and Linda Gutierrez, M.D., Wilkes University.
Source:
Journal reference:
Bommareddy, A., et al. (2024). Alpha-santalol, a derivative of sandalwood oil prevents development of prostate cancer in TRAMP mice. Phytomedicine Plus. doi.org/10.1016/j.phyplu.2024.100523.