A University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health research team has found a chemical compound common in fruits that proved promising in preventing prostate cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer death among men.Lupeol, an antioxidant found in fruits including strawberries, mangoes and figs, may kill existing cancer cells and prevent new tumors from initiating or progressing.“The cancer process takes about 20 years,” dermatology professor Hasan Mukhtar said. “If we can slow it down, the process might take 30 or 40 years.” Lengthening the process would allow more time for prevention and treatment. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men.Mukhtar and his research team analysed the effects of lupeol in “nude” mice, those that accept foreign disease. The team injected the mice with human prostate-cancer cells and investigated the results of those given lupeol alone and lupeol in conjunction with a laboratory-produced antibody.Mice injected with lupeol alone showed a substantial slowing of the cancer process, and those that received both showed even greater results.Lupeol may be effective in preventing prostate cancer by localising the cancer. Biochemical pathways become defective in the process of cancer and, if lupeol can repair these pathways, the cancer cannot spread.

The study of lupeol was reported in the latest issue of Cancer Research.