Ginseng is a world-known popular medicinal herb that was found with many pharmacological benefits. It can be used to boost physical capacity, improve cognition, reduce mental stress, and maintain healthy blood glucose.
Ginsenosides are main active components in Ginseng
Ginsenosides are active components in ginseng, and scientists found that ginsenosides possess anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and neuroprotective activity. Until now, more than 120 kinds of ginsenosides have been isolated.
Scientists found some kinds of ginsenosides are more bioactive than others, and they can be obtained only through metabolizing prototype ones, and they are defined as “rare ginsenosides“. For example, rare ginsenosides Rk3 can be obtained from prototype ginsenoside Rh1. The well-known rare ginsenosides include ginsenoside Rh2, Rg3, Rk1, Rk2, Rh3 and aPPD.
Rare ginsenosides have superior anticancer activities
Chinese scientists from China Pharmaceutical University compared the cytotoxic effects of 23 ginsenosides on six human cancer cells, including colon cancer cells, hepatoma cells, breast cancer cells, cervical cancer cells, pancreatic cancer cells and A549 human lung carcinoma cells. The study result showed that compared to prototype ginsenosides, rare ginsenosides have dominant chemotherapeutic activities, such as Rk1, Rk3 and Rh3. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Ginsenosides Rk1 as a promising therapeutic agent for hepatocellular carcinoma
As a rare ginsenoside, ginsenoside Rk1 has been found with many bioactivities. Some scientists conduct experiments to examine their inhibitory effects on hepatocellular carcinoma.
South Korean Scientists Kim Y. J. et al. investigated the mechanism of ginsenoside Rk1 in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells in vitro, and they found that ginsenoside Rk1 inhibited telomerase activity and induced the apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Ko et al. also confirmed the antitumor activities of ginsenoside Rk1. In the experiments, ginsenoside Rk1 was observed to induces both G1 phase arrest and when used in combination with autophagy inhibitors, ginsenoside Rk1 significantly inhibited hepatocellular carcinoma cells(HepG2 cells).
Since ginsenoside Rk1 was found to show brilliant antitumor activities against hepatocellular carcinoma, it has been considered as a promising therapeutic agent for hepatocellular carcinoma.
When faced with thousands of ginsenoside products on the market, consumers are often confused that what is the best choice for them. As mentioned before, compared prototype ginsenosides, rare ginsenosides are more bioactive and effective. The products gathering multiple rare ginsenosides in high concentration are best and money-worthy ones.