Eruca sativa inhibits melanoma growth: A scientific evidence

Cancer is the abnormal growth of cells usually invades and destroys normal cells in our bodies. These cells are born due to imbalance in the body viz. metabolic disorder in cellular system and reactive oxygen species formation, triggering the morbidity, and mortality in living organisms. An overproduction of ROS from disrupted metabolism referred as oxidative stress may cause damage through mutations terminating into cancer (Nascimento et al., 2007; Shureiqi et al., 2000). Mutations are changes to the base pair sequence of genetic material and cause genetics and other degenerative disorders. The worldwide new incidence of cancer is about 6 million cases per year (Greenlee et al., 2001). Among various cancer forms, melanoma is a malignant neoplasm of melanocytes, most frequently arising from the skin. Melanoma is accounted for 2·6% of the global cancer incidence and 1·1% of cancer-related deaths (Hoey et al., 2007). Even if these data rank melanoma eighth or ninth in incidence, its doubling rate every 10-20 years is more worrying (Diepgen and Mahler, 2002). It is estimated that 68,130 men and women (38,870 men and 29,260 women) will be diagnosed with and 8,700 men and women will die of melanoma of the skin in 2010 (Altekruse et al., 2010). Multidisciplinary scientific investigations are making best efforts to combat this disease. The curative surgical treatment of melanoma remains a significant clinical challenge (Balch, 1992) and trials of post-surgical adjuvant therapy have proved largely unsuccessful with the majority inducing severe side effects at therapeutically effective doses (Balch et al., 2001).