A part of extra-virgin olive oil can kill several types of cancer cells in humans without endangering healthy tissue, laboratory results published in a science journal showed.

Researchers identified the olive oil component as oleocanthal, which got rid of cancer cells, but scientists are still mystified how it happened. They initially guessed the oil component zeroed in on certain proteins in cancer cells that spur an automatic death of cells, scientifically referred to as apoptosis. They sought to verify their theory.

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A Rutgers professor of nutritional sciences in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Paul Breslin, said researchers needed to know if oleocanthal was indeed targeting a particular protein and causing cancer cells to die. Breslin is a co-author of a new study that appeared in the journal, Molecular and Cellular Oncology.

After inserting oleocanthal in the cancer cells, the scientists observed that the cancer cells were expiring on their own really fast --as quickly as an hour to as fast as 30 minutes. Usually, automatic cell death lasts from 16 to 24 hours, so the researchers realized that there was something else that pushed the cancer cells to wither and expire.

The research team learned that something in the cancer cells -- their own enzymes -- were causing them to die. The oleocanthal was piercing the walls inside the cancer cells that keep the cell's waste - its own "recycling center" or "dumpster" if you will.

The cell parts, known in biology as lysosomes, are bigger in cancer cells than in normal healthy cells and they store a lot of waste.

The study team leader said once the walls of lysosomes break down, "all hell breaks loose."

More importantly, oleocanthal leaves healthy tissue alone. It only freezes their life cycle for a while or, as researchers call it, "put them to sleep." After 24 hours, the normal tissue return to their usual cycles.

Hunter College's David Foster, who is senior author of the study, said the next reasonable step is to test the results outside clinical conditions and prove that oleocanthal can cause cancer cells to expire and wither tumors in living, breathing animals.

He added that experts were seeking for answers to the question why cancer cells are more affected by oleocanthal than normal cells.  

TagsCancer, Olive Oil, Oleocanthal