UF Health Cancer Center researchers have bolstered their findings that kava may reduce lung cancer risk caused by tobacco smoke. The team further discovered a genetic variation that could help predict those likely to have the greatest response to kava intervention.
Featured on the cover of the September issue of the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, the new study is a key step forward in research on the prevention of lung cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and one of the most prevalent and deadly cancers in the expansive area of North Central Florida that the UF Health Cancer Center primarily serves, which has higher rates of lung cancer mortality than the state.
“This genetic exploration opens up the opportunity of precision cancer prevention, which could greatly facilitate future clinical translation, particularly in combination with other genetic and non-genetic information that we are investigating,” said Chengguo Xing, Ph.D., a professor of medicinal chemistry and associate chair in the UF College of Pharmacy, who led the study. “Our ultimate goal is to enrich high-risk individuals and identify individuals more responsive to kava intervention.”
Kava is a traditional beverage consumed among South Pacific Islanders for relaxation, stress reduction, and sleep improvement. Xing first began studying kava in 2004, after epidemiology studies showed an association between consumption of kava and low rates of lung cancer in the South Pacific Islands.
In a pilot clinical trial published in 2020, Xing and his colleagues evaluated the effects of a seven-day course of kava capsules on tobacco carcinogen metabolism and tobacco use in active smokers. That study suggested kava had a twofold cancer prevention mechanism, reducing the toxicity of a carcinogenic metabolite and relaxing the user, which reduces tobacco cravings.
In the new study, the team quantified metabolites in urine samples collected before and after kava dietary supplementation. They found that kava increased the urinary excretion of two lung carcinogen metabolites, providing direct evidence about kava’s role in enhancing detoxification. Excretion of carcinogens through the urine may reduce lung cancer risk.
Next, the team assessed the potential effect of genetic variants. They found that the single nucleotide polymorphism of UGT2B10 appeared to predict levels of metabolites in the urine samples and kava’s effects, indicating that kava may have different benefits depending on an individual’s genotype.
The team is performing two clinical trials to help validate the results. Going forward, they plan to validate the findings in larger groups of volunteers. The researchers are also using clinical and preclinical models to investigate the mechanisms behind kava’s effects, with the goal of identifying additional risk biomarkers to improve the predictive power of the genetic variation.
The multidisciplinary research team included Qi Hu, a graduate student in Xing’s lab and the paper’s first author, and Zhiguang Huo, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of biostatistics in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, and the co-senior author with Xing, who is a member of the UF Health Cancer Center’s Cancer Control and Population Sciences research program. UF Health Cancer Center members John Malaty, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Community Health and Family Medicine in the UF College of Medicine, and Ramzi Salloum, Ph.D., associate director for community outreach and engagement at the UF Health Cancer Center, were co-authors.
The National Cancer Institute and the Florida Department of Health funded the study. The UF Health Cancer Center receives crucial support for its research from the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Act (Fla. Stat. § 381.915).
Read the study in Chemical Research in Toxicology.
For more information on lung cancer clinical services, including screening at UF Health, tobacco cessation resources, or clinical trials, visit https://ufhealth.org/conditions-and-treatments/lung-cancer.
