Samara Polytech chemists investigated the potential anticarcinogenic effects of extracts obtained from plant materials of lingonberry, raspberry, black chokeberry, grapes, Krasnodar green tea, ginseng, fireweed and coffee, and also evaluated their effect on the growth and viability of colon cancer cells. The research was carried out within the framework of the state assignment for fundamental research No. 0778-2020-0005, its results were published Dec. 29, 2020 in the journal Proceedings of Universities. Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology (DOI: https://doi.org/10.21285/2227-2925-2020-10-4-613-626).

Prevention is the most cost-effective and long-term strategy for controlling this disease. It is now well known that almost 50% of all malignant tumors can be prevented with proper nutrition based on natural products with a preventive effect.

"Polyphenols are the largest variety of plant components. It is this class of chemical compounds that have shown powerful antioxidant properties. They actively fight against cellular damage caused by free radicals, slowing down the aging and preventing oxidation. In addition, they protect the body from inflammatory, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative diseases, and some forms of cancer", one of the authors of this study, associate professor of the Department of Technology and Organization of Public Catering of Samara Polytech Natalya Eremeeva explains. "We studied in detail the beneficial properties of lingonberry, raspberry, black chokeberry, grapes, Krasnodar green tea, ginseng, fireweed and coffee.

When conducting the MTT cytotoxicity test, the scientists found that the ginseng extract was the most cytotoxic, and the coffee extract was the least cytotoxic. It has been proven that all the studied extracts are able to reduce the expression of pro-inflammatory genes. The most pronounced inhibitory effect on the expression of these genes is possessed by the extracts of chokeberry and fireweed.

The research team supposes that this study may serve as a basis for conducting in vivo experiments to determine anticarcinogenic activity.

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MTT test is a colorimetric test to assess the metabolic activity of cells.

Cytotoxicity is the ability of chemicals to damage tissue cells, including malignant tumors.

Samara Polytech as a flagship university offers a wide range of education and research programs and aims at development and transfer of high-quality and practically-oriented knowledge. The university has an established reputation in technical developments and focuses on quality education, scientific and pragmatic research, combining theory and practice in the leading regional businesses and enterprises. Education is conducted in 30 integrated groups of specialties and areas of training (about 200 degree programs including bachelor, master programs and 55 PhD programs) such as oil and gas, chemistry and petrochemistry, mechanics and energy, transportation, food production, defense, IT, mechanical and automotive engineering, engineering systems administration and automation, material science and metallurgy, biotechnology, industrial ecology, architecture, civil engineering and design, etc.