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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #287558

Title: Antitumor activity of fermented noni exudates (fNE) and its fractions

Author
item LI, JINHUA - Clemson University
item CHANG, LENG-CHEE - University Of Hawaii
item Wall, Marisa
item WONG, DESMOND - University Of Hawaii
item YU, XIANZHONG - Clemson University
item WEI, YANZHANG - Clemson University

Submitted to: Molecular and Clinical Oncology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/13/2012
Publication Date: 1/30/2013
Citation: Li, J., Chang, L., Wall, M.M., Wong, D., Yu, X., Wei, Y. 2013. Antitumor activity of fermented noni exudates (fNE) and its fractions. Molecular and Clinical Oncology. 1:161-164.

Interpretive Summary: The noni plant has been extensively used in folk medicine for over 2000 years, and recent studies have shown that noni has a wide spectrum of therapeutic activities, including anti-cancer activity. This study confirms that fermented noni juice is able to activate immune responses in model mice to not only reject tumor challenge, but also eradicate existing tumors. The alcohol fraction of the fermented noni juice contains the active components. More importantly, the noni juice can be delivered orally and activate the immune system, which represents a novel approach for cancer prevention.

Technical Abstract: Noni (Morinda citrifolia) has been extensively used in folk medicine by Polynesians for over 2000 years and recent studies have shown that noni has a wide spectrum of therapeutic activities including inhibition of angiogenesis, anti-inflammatory effects, and anti-cancer activities. We recently reported that intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of fermented noni exudates (fNE) induced significant tumor rejection in a S180 mouse sarcoma tumor model and demonstrated that natural killer (NK) cells are the major players in fNE induced anti-tumor activity. In this report, we partitioned fNE into three fractions and examined their antitumor effects by i.p. injection or as a water supplement. The in vivo animal study results show that the n-butanol fraction of fNE (BuOH), when delivered by i.p. injection, effectively rejected (100%) tumor challenge and eradicated existing tumors (75%). When delivered as a water supplement, 62.5% of the mice receiving the n-butanol or ethyl acetate fractions rejected tumor cells. The tumor resistant mice effectively rejected further and higher doses of tumor challenge, indicating that the immune system was activated. The findings not only confirm our early report that fNE has antitumor activity but also demonstrated that the n-butanol fraction of fNE contains the active antitumor components, which will be further identified. More importantly, the antitumor effect of fNE and its fractions as water supplements renders a significant potential for identifying novel and powerful new dietary products for cancer prevention.