‫השרביטן המצוי כמקור לחומרים‬
‫אנטי‪-‬סרטניים‬
‫דר' חננית קולטאי ‪PhD‬‬
‫מכון וולקני‬
‫מנהל המחקר החקלאי‬
‫יש להדגיש כי שימוש בלתי מבוקר בצמחי מרפא‬
‫עלול להיות מסוכן‪ ,‬וחייב בהתייעצות עם רופאים‬
‫מוסמכים‪.‬‬
Ephedra sinica
•
•
•
Also known as Chinese ephedra or
Ma Huang (cannabis yellow).
Part of the Chinese medicine for over
2,000 years.
Treatment for asthma, common cold,
influenza, allergies.
•
Contains an alkaloid molecule called
Ephedrine.
•
Ephedrine is similar in molecular
structure to methamphetamine, as
well as to epinephrine (adrenaline).
•
Main properties: stimulating, appetite
suppressor, increases blood pressure.
•
Synergetic effect with Caffeine with
respect to weight loss.
•
Addictive
Ephedrine
Ephedra foeminea
• Lack ephedrine alkaloids
(Krizevski et al 2010; Ibragic and
Sofic 2015) but contains
Benzaldehyde (Krizevski et al
2012)
R. Krizevski et al 2012.
Ephedra foeminea
• Common in Israel and spread from the north
parts of the Negev, up to the Golan heights.
• Flourish from April through October.
• The research on the Ephedra
foeminea began after a
Palestinian man with cancer in
the liver and the lungs, claimed to
be cured after drinking tea from
the plant for several months.
• The tea was prepared by cooking
the plant for 2 hours in boiling
hot water.
Research goal
• Identification of new plant-derived
compounds and plant extracts with anticancer activity
– Ephedra foeminea
E. foemina extracts show significant reduction in
cell viability
Breast cancer
Lung cancer
Colorectal cancer
Non-cancer keratinocytes
• Cancer cells are more sensitive to the extracts in comparison to
non-cancer cells. However, more cell lines should be examined.
• Ethanol and fruit extracts are more potent than water extract.
E. foemina fruit extract is heat sensitive and have an
additive effect with that of paclitaxel on cell viability
• Fruit but not ethanol extract is heat sensitive
• Fruit extract is additive with paclitaxel
E. foemina fruit and ethanol extracts induce cell death
via apoptosis, in a caspase-3 dependent way
E. foeminea extracts affect the cell cytoskeleton
•
•
•
Non-treated
E. foeminea 70%
EtOH x 5
E. Foeminea
fruit x 5
E. foeminea
water x1
Non-treated
E. foeminea
70% EtOH x 5
E. foeminea
fruit x 5
E. foeminea
water x1
E. foeminea extracts do not have a clear effect on microtubules bundling
E. foeminea ethanol extract but not fruit juice enhances formation of
invadopodia
E. foeminea fruit extract induce formation of large focal points
Podosomes and invadopodia are adhesive mechanosensory
modules composed of a dense F-actin core surrounded by a
ring of adhesion molecules
International Journal of Cell Biology
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 310616
Murphy, Nature reviews Molecular cell biology (2011)
Ephedra foeminea- summary
 Two extracts with indications for different
activities:
 Reduce cancer cell viability (e+f)
 Formation of invadopodia (e)
 A possibility for apoptosis (e+f)
 For cell viability- additive effect with Taxol (f)

(Ephedra affect actin-related structure whereas Taxol affect microtubules
related structure for increased focal adhesion points)
‫יש להדגיש כי שימוש בלתי מבוקר בצמחי מרפא‬
‫ וחייב בהתייעצות עם רופאים‬,‫עלול להיות מסוכן‬
.‫מוסמכים‬
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Yaacov Sharvit
Prof. Yoram Kapulnik
Prof. Native Dudai
Maayan Mendelovich
Monick Shoshan
Dr. Marcelo Fridlender
Dr. Moran Mazuz
Dr. Rameshprabu Nallathambi
Dr. Gopinath Selvaraj
Dr. Puja Kumari
Aurel Ion
Smadar Wininger
Ahmad Nasser
Mohamed Samara