BROMELAIN

Anti-inflammatory active ingredient of pineapple stems. Clinical research on bromelain is surprisingly limited and often shows mixed findings. Mostly, positive outcomes reported are in pain and swelling related to injury or surgery. Also positive effects in chronic rhinosinusitis.

Bromelain has been used alongside vitamin D3 in drug development and pilot trials for advanced prostate and pancreatic cancers with poor prognosis. The drug is an emerging immunotherapy, also in pancreatic cancer, a natural immunmodulator able to reawaken native immune response. (see Highlight 1)

In basal cell carcinoma, the most common skin cancer, there are emerging commercially developed treatments showing progress based on bromelain and associated proteolytic enzymes [that break down proteins]

 

TYPICAL ABSORPTION LEVELS

20 – 30%

EXAMPLES OF IMPROVED OUTCOMES

PENDING

PRE-DIAGNOSIS OR PREVENTION

NO

Highlighted Studies

Combination therapy quickly led to a reduction in prostate-specific antigen levels, and stabilisation of disease was often achieved as indicated by repeat MRI and PET scans. Few side effects of any kind were observed when using these combination treatments. In conclusion, IMM-101 treatment alongside an anti-inflammatory agent, such as bromelain and/or LDN, may be considered an active and safe drug combination, and is a regimen that should be considered for treating patients with prostate canc...

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CPEEB [concentrate of proteolytic enzymes enriched in bromelain] presents a new, topical, non-surgical means that combines an enzymatic “surgery-like” eradication of the tumor with its pathogenetic surroundings and a “chemotherapeutic” effect that is faster, safer, and better tolerated than the present 5FU, imiquimod, or PDT. CPEEB may represent a “next-generation” alternative… scarless healing of the superficial erosion is due to the preserved dermis, which is prone to epit...

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On the whole, these results support further studies on the role of bromelain in the treatment of tumors possibly representing a non-invasive treatment for people suffering from cancer. Despite these promising effects, the number of clinical trials is low and limited to early stages

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..findings from traditional and clinical reports indicate that bromelain may be an effective anticancer therapeutic agent. From the in vitro and in vivo data that is currently available, bromelain demonstrates immunomodulatory and anti-neoplastic effects, in addition to anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial effects…. entailing antitumor-initiating and -promoting effects via inhibition of tumor development

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TABLE OF REFERENCES

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https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/13/21/66242These are POC preliminary studies aimed at indicating the potential efficacy and feasibility of topical CPEEB in eradicating BCC. In these studies, topical CPEEB 10% and 5% resulted in complete eradication of the BCC when appropriately applied. CPEEB was well tolerated in all patients, and all treated sites’ erosions healed without scars in <3 weeks. Further research is necessary to corroborate the results, refine the application technique, and complete the regulatory process.CPEEB presents a new, topical, non-surgical means that combines an enzymatic “surgery-like” eradication of the tumor with its pathogenetic surroundings and a “chemotherapeutic” effect that is faster, safer, and better tolerated than the present 5FU, imiquimod, or PDT. CPEEB may represent a “next-generation” alternative to the present non-surgical modalities. The final outcome of fast and scarless healing of the superficial erosion is due to the preserved dermis, which is prone to epithelializing, and possibly to bromelain’s anti-inflammatory properties that modulate rapid, minimally scarred healing, as found in other studie
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9869248/1Moreover, the oral intake of bromelain reduced the expression of the cell surface markers CD44 but poorly increased the expression of CD11a and CD62L without changing the level of CD16. These effects were observed also in vitro with a higher decrease in the expression of CD16 and CD44. On the whole, the bromelain’s capacity to improve the monocytic cytotoxicity of breast tumor patients makes it suitable as alternative support care in combating cancer.The role of bromelain (in combination with papain, sodium selenite and Lens culinaris lectin) has been also tested as a complementary medicine on more than 600 breast cancer patients to reduce the side effects caused by the administration of the adjuvant hormone therapy. Side effects were measured by scoring from 1 (no side-effects/optimal tolerability) to 6 (extreme side-effects/extremely poor tolerability) The main side effects, arthralgia and mucosal dryness, were drastically reduced after 4 weeks (p<0.001) and 8 weeks (p<0.0001) of treatment
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8167695/1Preliminary efficacy studies with Oxaliplatin and 5-Fluorouracil on tumor growth (LS174T) were negative. Gemcitabine was assessed with BromAc® showing an almost 71% tumor inhibition compared to controls. This in vivo study indicates that Gemcitabine at 2 mg/kg in combination with BromAc® 3 mg/300 mg/Kg was effective and safe, supporting its potential for future clinical application.We developed BromAc®, Bromelain in combination with Acetylcysteine, to treat a rare mucinous tumor, pseudomyxoma peritonei. Bromelain (Brom) is an enzyme extract from the fruit or the stem of the pineapple plant (Ananas comosus) that contains a mixture of proteases, carbohydrates, phosphatases, glycoprotein, etc. Acetylcysteine (Ac) is an antioxidantScreenshot from 2024-01-23 11-37-01
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0210274#1In conclusion, we revealed that bromelain exhibits antiproliferative actions both in vitro and in vivo. Treatment with bromelain inhibited the proliferation of CRC cells through activating both caspase-dependent and -independent apoptosis and inducing programmed autophagic cell death. The role of bromelain in CRC treatment could be therapeutic and of economic importance and needs further investigation.Emerging evidence also suggests that bromelain modulates nuclear factor (NF)-κB and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, a key regulator of inflammation and GI malignancies [32,54,55]. The fibrinolytic, antiplatelet, and antithrombotic effects of bromelain were also recognized [56,57]. Bromelain showed benefits in controlling the chronic inflammatory microenvironment caused by malignancies, and enhanced immunity by ‘‘un-coating” cancer cells facing a host's defense [58,59]. Relevant to our present investigation, bromelain was found to be associated with activation of ROS-related apoptosis and autophagy, and inhibition of prosurvival pathways in CRCScreenshot from 2024-02-08 14-59-13

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