Promise of bitter melon ( Momordica charantia ) bioactives in cancer prevention and therapy

Abstract

Recently, there is a paradigm shift that the whole food-derived components are not ‘idle bystanders’ but actively participate in modulating aberrant metabolic and signaling pathways in both healthy and diseased individuals. One such whole food from Cucurbitaceae family is ‘bitter melon’ (Momordica charantia, also called bitter gourd, balsam apple, etc.), which has gained an enormous attention in recent years as an alternative medicine in developed countries. The increased focus on bitter melon consumption could in part be due to several recent pre-clinical efficacy studies demonstrating bitter melon potential to target obesity/type II diabetes-associated metabolic aberrations as well as its pre-clinical anti-cancer efficacy against various malignancies. The bioassay-guided fractionations have also classified the bitter melon chemical constituents based on their anti-diabetic or cytotoxic effects. Thus, by definition, these bitter melon constituents are at cross roads on the bioactivity parameters; they either have selective efficacy for correcting metabolic aberrations or targeting cancer cells, or have beneficial effects in both conditions. However, given the vast, though dispersed, literature reports on the bioactivity and beneficial attributes of bitter melon constituents, a comprehensive review on the bitter melon components and the overlapping beneficial attributes is lacking; our review attempts to fulfill these unmet needs. Importantly, the recent realization that there are common risk factors associated with obesity/type II diabetes-associated metabolic aberrations and cancer, this timely review focuses on the dual efficacy of bitter melon against the risk factors associated with both diseases that could potentially impact the course of malignancy to advanced stages. Furthermore, this review also addresses a significant gap in our knowledge regarding the bitter melon drug-drug interactions which can be predicted from the available reports on bitter melon effects on metabolism enzymes and drug transporters. This has important implications, given that a large proportion of individuals, taking bitter melon based supplements/phytochemical extracts/food based home-remedies, are also likely to be taking conventional therapeutic drugs at the same time. Accordingly, the comprehensively reviewed information here could be prudently translated to the clinical implications associated with any potential concerns regarding bitter melon consumption by cancer patients.

Bitter melon juice exerts its efficacy against pancreatic cancer via targeting both bulk and cancer stem cells

“…The advantages of exploiting their chemopreventive and therapeutic efficacy are the minimal associated toxicities to surrounding normal healthy cells and cost effectiveness; particularly with PanC, there have been extensive studies connecting dietary agents to reduced PanC incidences . BMJ, a dietary agent extracted from the fruits of Momordica charantia , has numerous associated health benefits; antidiabetic, emetic and laxative . Studies using BMJ/BMJ‐extracts in animals show lower serum cholesterol levels, hypoglycemia and delayed onset of tumorigenesis, alongside improved glucose tolerance in human subjects without significant alterations to insulin levels with BMJ administration .…”

“…Studies using BMJ/BMJ‐extracts in animals show lower serum cholesterol levels, hypoglycemia and delayed onset of tumorigenesis, alongside improved glucose tolerance in human subjects without significant alterations to insulin levels with BMJ administration . Component analysis of bitter melon characterizes all the important constituents with multiple beneficial effects, mainly cucurbitane‐type triterpenoids, triterpene glycoside, phenolic acid, flavonoids, essential oils, fatty acids, saponins and amino acids . The toxicity data is minimal with only evident side effects being diarrhea and abdominal pain that can be relatively easily managed .…”

Bitter Melon Enhances Natural Killer–Mediated Toxicity against Head and Neck Cancer Cells

“…BME displayed anticancer activities in various cancer models (10–13). In addition to its direct inhibitory effect on tumor growth and survival, BME also has demonstrated immunomodulatory activity in a syngeneic mouse model of HNSCC by inhibiting Treg activity (14).…”

“…Bitter melon ( Momordica charantia ) is extensively cultivated in Asia, Africa, and South America, and is widely used in folk medicines to treat diabetes (9). In our previous studies, we demonstrated that BME is effective in killing various types of solid tumors including head and neck cancer (10–13). We found that BME inhibits HNSCC cell proliferation through modulation of c-Met signaling in in vitro as well as in vivo using a xenograft model (12).…”

MAP30 promotes apoptosis of U251 and U87 cells by suppressing the LGR5 and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and enhancing Smac expression

“…Previous studies indicated that MAP30 exhibits a variety of anti-infection, anti-diabetic, antiviral and antitumor bioactive effects (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). The antitumor ability of MAP30 has been the subject of previous studies (11)(12)(13)(14)(15). However, certain researchers have already noted the effects of MAP30 on the inhibition of U87 cells in screening for anticancer effects (3,7,16,17).…”