Chemists and biologists from Russia have found that an extract of fir has anti-cancer properties and is able to protect the tissues of the human body from the effects of aging, according to a paper published in the journal Oncotarget.

In recent years, scientists are actively trying to find new methods to combat cancer and other diseases using the «recipes» that are made for these purposes by nature. Substances such as today involve biologists, will be beneficial will differ from chemotherapy or radiotherapy, as they will not have strong side effects despite their similar performance.

For example, recently, scientists from the Moscow Institute of physics and technology in Dolgoprudny found in the usual parsley and dill molecules that can serve as a basis for effective cancer drugs. In January of this year, biologists have taken the first step for their application in practice, creating them similar to a substance that destroys those types of cancer for which chemotherapy is not effective.

Alexey Moskalev Institute of molecular biology Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, as well as scientists from MIPT and the number of institutions propose to add to the number of these «medicinal» plants and fir, whose extract, as shown by their experiments on the elderly and cancer cells, has a number of useful properties.

As explained by the press service of MIPT, fir, scientists began to do after they asked for help, a pharmaceutical company «Initium-Pharm», producing and selling the extract of fir «Abisil» to fight inflammation and infections. Employees interested whether extract fir some other useful properties.

An extract of fir, as they say scientists, contains a large number of terpenes, aromatic hydrocarbons having a distinctive pine flavor and protect plants from pests and diseases. Many of the terpenes, as shown by recent experiments that possess strong anti-cancer properties that made Moskaleva and his colleagues inspect them at the extract of fir.

To do this, scientists have produced several crops of old skin cells and cancer cells extracted from tumors of the pancreas and colon, and was treated with extract of fir.

As shown by these experiments, terpene molecules in the extract of fir has significantly changed how genes work in those and other cultures. They rejuvenated the aged skin cells and protect them from stress, and also included genes «self-destruct» in cancer cells. In total, changed the work of about 100 genes, and the older the cells were, the stronger was expressed for these changes.

Similar results, according to the authors of the study talk about the possibility of the use of extract of fir is not only to fight disease and inflammation, but also with cancer and the effects of aging. Of course, this conclusion can be definitively done only in the future, when biologists will carry out all necessary clinical trials and prove the security of such a «picolette» cancer.