According to a recently published article in the Journal of Clinical Cancer Research, researchers at the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that Sulforaphane, an extract found in broccoli, inhibits breast cancer stem cells both in vivo and in vitro.  

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) generate tumors by differentiating into multiple cell types and continuing to regenerate themselves.  Conventional cancer chemotherapies only attack the bulk of the tumor, allowing the CSCs to survive.  These surviving CSCs can then grow a new tumor and cause a patient to relapse.  New therapies which target CSCs would allow the treatment of patients with aggressive tumors and also prevent tumor metathesis and relapse.

Dr. Sun's group injected breast cancer-positive mice with 50 mg/kg of Sulforaphane for 2 weeks and found that it reduced the aldehyde dehydrogenase-positive cells (a common marker for cancer stem cells) by greater than 50% in tumors.  Western blot analysis also showed a downregulation of the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway which is one of the genetic pathways that is implicated in cancer stem cell regulation.

If Dr. Sun's clinical trials confirm the animal studies, then Sulforaphane would make a viable chemotherapeutic agent.  However, he warned AOL News: "We consider the findings promising, but we're still in the very early stage, so we're cautious."

Click here to read the Clinical Cancer Research article.

LKT Laboratories offers several versions of the broccoli extract:

• S8046 R-Sulforaphane is the natural product extracted from broccoli 
• S8044 R,S-Sulforaphane is a synthetic version of the natural product from brocolli
• S8045 S-Sulforaphane is the enantiomer with non-natural stereochemistry