Highlights

  • Berberine dramatically reduces the viability of human colorectal cancer cells in laboratory dishes.
  • The plant-derived molecule halts cancer cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis.
  • Berberine substantially limits human colorectal cancer cell migration, an indication that it inhibits the spread of cancer.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancer types, ranking as the fourth most common cancer. Shockingly, the five-year survival rate with colorectal cancer is only about 64%. Currently, treatment options include costly tactics like surgical treatment, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Due to the high cost of treatment with still high mortality, finding novel molecules targeting colorectal cancer to halt tumor growth and development has become paramount.

Published in Molecules, Abdalla and colleagues from the University of Jordan in Jordan show that treating human colorectal cancer cells with berberine deters their proliferation and triggers their cell death. Berberine treatment also stymies colorectal cancer cell migration in laboratory dishes, an indicator of halted spreading capabilities. These findings suggest that taking berberine reduces colorectal cancer cell proliferation and inhibits their ability to spread throughout the body.

Berberine Induces Cancer Cell Death and Drastically Inhibits Spreading Capabilities

To find out whether berberine inhibits colorectal cancer cell proliferation, Abdalla and colleagues treated three different lines of human colorectal cancer cells with berberine in laboratory dishes. They found that high-dosage berberine treatments reduced cell viability for the three colorectal cancer cell lines more than four-fold, showing inhibited proliferation. Smaller berberine doses also reduced colorectal cancer cell viability but to lesser degrees. These findings show that berberine halts colorectal cancer cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, with higher doses conferring stronger cancer proliferation inhibition.

Berberine significantly reduces colorectal cancer cell viability, exhibiting dose-dependent effects. Treatment with berberine at doses ranging from 0.5 µM to 2.5 µM leads to a substantial reduction in cell viability for colorectal cancer cell lines (HT-29, SW-480, and HCT-116), with the highest dose resulting in approximately five-fold decrease in cell viability.
(Tarawneh et al., 2023 | Molecules) Berberine dramatically lowers colorectal cancer cell viability, especially at higher doses. At doses ranging between 0.5 µM and 2.5 µM, berberine reduced colorectal cancer cell (HT-29, SW-480, and HCT-116) viability, with around five-fold cell viability reductions with 2.5 µM treatments.

To find how berberine dampens colorectal cancer cell proliferation, the Jordan-based researchers examined the berberine-treated cancer cells under a microscope. They found numerous markers for apoptosis, including cell swelling, ruptured cell membranes, and cell nucleus fragmentation. These results confirm that berberine halts colorectal cancer cell proliferation by inducing cancer cell apoptosis.

Berberine treatments induce cellular markers of apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells. A) Cell swelling (white arrow), apoptotic bodies (brown arrow), ruptured cell membrane (black arrow), and DNA packaging condensation (yellow arrow, chromatin condensation) are observed. B) Cell nucleus fragmentation is indicated by the red arrow.
(Tarawneh et al., 2023 | Molecules) Berberine treatments induce cellular markers of apoptosis. The arrows point to cellular markers of apoptosis. A) The white arrow indicates cell swelling, the brown arrow points to cell fragments called apoptotic bodies, the black arrow points to a ruptured cell membrane, and the yellow arrow points to DNA packaging condensation (chromatin condensation). B) The red arrow points to cell nucleus fragmentation.

Abdalla and colleagues sought to find whether berberine’s anti-proliferative effects on colorectal cancer cells were linked to an inhibited capacity to spread. They examined the migration abilities of berberine-treated colorectal cancer cells through a membrane permeable to cells, similar to a blood vessel wall. The scientists found that berberine reduced migration five-fold or more in each of the three colorectal cancer cell lines, indicating a drastically impaired ability to spread. Since cancer cells can spread by entering the bloodstream, a process called metastasis, berberine’s inhibition of cancer cell migration suggests it suppresses the cancer’s ability to invade other tissues via the blood.

Berberine treatment inhibits migration of colorectal cancer cell lines. HT-29, SW-480, and HCT-116 cell lines show significant reduction in migration through a permeable membrane, indicating impaired spreading abilities.
(Tarawneh et al., 2023 | Molecules) Berberine treatment drastically inhibits the migration of three colorectal cancer cell lines, indicative of thwarted spreading abilities. All three cell lines, HT-29, SW-480, and HCT-116, exhibited five-fold or more inhibition of migration through a permeable membrane, indicating their reduced spreading abilities.

Berberine Supplementation Could Offer a Means to Prevent Age-Related Conditions Like Colorectal Cancer

In the study, Abdalla and colleagues confirmed berberine’s anticancer effects using three lines of colorectal cancer cells. The study’s findings suggest that taking berberine may be a way to inhibit the proliferation and spread of colorectal cancer, especially at higher doses.

Because the study wasn’t a clinical trial that measured berberine’s effects in patients with colorectal cancer, it’s difficult to say whether berberine supplementation would have strong effects in patients. Nonetheless, with the high costs of current colorectal cancer treatments and the as yet high mortality associated with this type of cancer, the positive findings provide hope. The possibility also remains that berberine supplementation may prevent the development of colorectal cancer since it stops colorectal cancer cell growth and spread in laboratory dishes.

Berberine can be purchased for between $20 and $50 for a month’s supply. Dietary sources of berberine include grapes and turmeric. Intriguingly, a study found that berberine supplementation increased naturally aged mouse lifespan by about 16%. As such, berberine shows promise as a longevity-promoting supplement.