Licorice extract blocks CRC growth in mice

A team of researchers based at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, USA, found that inhibiting an enzyme known as  11-beta-HSD2 with a licorice extract blocks COX-2 activity in human and  mouse colorectal tumor cells, inhibiting their growth and metastasis in  experimental models of colorectal cancer.

Importantly, long-term inhibition of 11-beta-HSD2 did not have side  effects on the heart and blood vessels of mice, as long-term treatment  with selective COX-2 inhibitors does. The authors therefore suggest that  inhibiting 11-beta-HSD2 might provide a better approach to preventing  colorectal cancer.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen,  and drugs that selectively target a protein known as COX-2 prevent the  development of intestinal polyps, the precursors of colorectal cancer.  However, these drugs have severe side effects that preclude their  routine use in the prevention of colorectal cancer.