NEW YORK (Reuters Health)–Zyflamend, an herbal extract, inhibits cyclooxygenase-2 and causes in vitro apoptosis of a human prostate cancer cell line, according to a report at the Society of Urologic Oncology meeting at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.

Zyflamend (New Chapter, Inc., Brattleboro, Vermont) is composed of standardized extracts of herbs with COX-2 inhibitory activity. According to Dr. A. E. Katz and colleagues at Columbia University in New York, the herbs include rosemary, turmeric, ginger, holy basil, and green tea. Other components of Zyflamend are derived from hu zhang, Chinese goldthread, barberry, oregano and Scutellaria baicalensis.

Incubation of LNCaP prostate cancer cells with Zyflamend led to a 78% reduction in cell number after 72 hours. Analysis of PARP cleavage products and caspase-3 activity suggest that the cell reduction was due to apoptosis.

Furthermore, Zyflamend activity was greater than that exerted by curcumin alone, the active ingredient in turmeric.

The researchers’ findings also indicate that COX-2 activity was significantly decreased even though COX-2 protein expression was unaffected.

“We are about to initiate a trial at Columbia looking at patients with prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia,” Dr. Katz told Reuters Health. He estimates that, without intervention, 50% to 70% of such patients will develop cancer.

He is already prescribing Zyflamend for patients at high risk for recurrence after surgery or radiation therapy for prostate cancer. “It’s too early to tell if it will prevent recurrence, but I do know the extract was well tolerated,” he noted.

“From our results in the lab, I feel that Zyflamend is a promising, novel phytotherapeutic agent for prostate cancer,” Dr. Katz concluded.