![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/chemical-found-in-popular-sweet-can-help-fight-silent-killer-pancreatic-cancer-study-finds/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/colorful-candy-heart-shaped-one-837340883.jpg&description=SUGAR KICK Chemical found in popular sweet can help fight 'silent killer' pancreatic cancer, study finds A CHEMICAL found in liquorice could help fight pancreatic cancer, a study suggests. Researchers discovered isoliquiritigenin can suppress the disease, which kills around 9,000 people in the UK every year. 2 A chemical found in liquorice could help fight pancreatic cancer, a study suggests Credit: Getty 2 Pancreatic cancer kills around 9,000 people in the UK every year Credit: Getty It could pave the way for new and improved treatments with fewer side effects and ultimately help save lives, scientists said. A team at Hong Kong Baptist University studied the compound's effectiveness in mice. They found that isoliquiritigenin lowered the survival rate of cancer cells by up to 80 per cent and boosted the impact of drugs commonly used to treat the illness. Just 30mg/kg of isoliquiritigenin reduced tumour size to around the same as those treated with the conventional chemotherapy drug gemcitabine. And it produced far fewer side effects. The rodents did not experience significant weight loss or a drop in red and white blood cells as they did with gemcitabine. When taken together though, cancer cells were suppressed by at least 18 per cent - meaning combining the two chemicals could be even more beneficial. Joshua Ko Ka-Shun, an associate professor who led the study, published in the journal Phytomedicine and presented at the Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research 2023 in Torino, Italy, said: "This compound is worth considering for further development into a new generation of chemotherapy treatment. "[Pancreatic cancer] is difficult to identify, and usually at a late-stage when it is detected, with not many treatment options available, so finding a suitable treatment is urgent. "Isoliquiritigenin possesses the unique property of inhibiting pancreatic cancer progression through the blockade of autophagy, which is a natural process where the body's){kind=link}
A CHEMICAL found in liquorice could help fight pancreatic cancer, a study suggests.
Researchers discovered isoliquiritigenin can suppress the disease, which kills around 9,000 people in the UK every year.
It could pave the way for new and improved treatments with fewer side effects and ultimately help save lives, scientists said.
A team at Hong Kong Baptist University studied the compound’s effectiveness in mice.
They found that isoliquiritigenin lowered the survival rate of cancer cells by up to 80 per cent and boosted the impact of drugs commonly used to treat the illness.