Pharmacological and clinical data for colorectal carcinoma chemoprevention on Indena’s standardised bilberry extract, Mirtoselect, were presented by Professor Andreas Gescher from the University of Leicester, UK, at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Italian Cancer Society (SIC) in Sesto San Giovanni, Milan late last year during the session of “Dietary Supplements and Nutraceuticals in the Management of Cancer”.
Following a study in pre-clinical carcinogenesis models suggesting that Mirtoselect may prevent malignancies in the gastrointestinal tract, the first in-human pilot clinical trial was presented at the congress. Twenty five patients with colorectal cancer (and scheduled to undergo resection of primary tumour or liver metastasis) received Mirtoselect 1.4 grams, 2.8 grams and 5.6 grams daily for seven days before surgery. Anthocyanins and metabolites were measured in plasma and colorectal tissue. Mirtoselect reduced tumour proliferation in colorectal tumour samples taken from all patients who received the product by 7% compared with preintervention values. “We are pleased that professor Gescher decided to use our product for his research as result of its high level of standardisation, chemical characterisation and safety profile. These data, even if preliminary, showed that anthocyanin-rich bilberry extract may induce beneficial pharmacodynamic changes to counter tumour development in patients,” said Antonella Riva, senior research scientist at Indena.
