Abstract

Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells, either by preventing them from multiplying or by causing the cells to self-destruct. However, in most cases, high systemic toxicity and drug resistance limit the successful outcomes of treatment regimes. Prevention of cancer through dietary intervention recently has received an increasing interest and dietary polyphenols have become not only important potential chemopreventive, but also therapeutic, natural agents. Combination of effective chemopreventive agent (such as ginger) with chemotherapeutic agents may enhance efficacy while reducing toxicity to normal tissues, resulting in better survival. In this study, we observed that treatment of human cervical carcinoma cell line, HeLa with ethanolic ginger extract in combination with gemcitabine resulted in significant dose-dependent decrease in cell viability. It is noteworthy that use of ginger extract increased the efficacy of gemcitabine and importantly, it was found to be minimally toxic to normal cells. Together, these results suggest a novel mechanism may be involved in the synergistic effect of this combination. Thus, this combination may be an effective modality management in the treatment of cervical cancer.

Key words: Gemcitabine, ginger, chemotherapy, chemoprevention, cytotoxicity, cervical cancer.