Will This Plant Save the Lives of Breast Cancer Patients?

A team of researchers from England discovered a plant’s hidden potential in developing better treatments for breast cancer and other diseases.

“Along with my colleagues from Brunel and Exeter, I am truly excited to have discovered the amazing impact this unassuming plant has on breast cancer cells,” says Prof Alessandra Devoto from the Department of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, who recently published a paper on the findings in the New Phytologist. “It just proves that even plants with a non-medicinal pedigree can work for cancer treatment.”

The researchers first treated Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as thale cress, with a substance found in jasmine that boosts plant responses to stress. They discovered that the breast cancer cells incubated with the treated leaves stop growing, whilst the normal cells remain unaffected. In the case of breast cancer, this discovery might lead to a quicker recovery time and fewer secondary effects for patients who undergo chemical treatment. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms associated with the changes in the breast cancer cells might also lead to the development of new treatments.