UNAIR NEWS – Cancer is a disease caused by the growth of abnormal cells and it can damage normal cells around and in other parts of the body. Besides, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. The disease does not cause symptoms at the beginning of its development so that it is only detected and can be treated after reaching an advanced stage or commonly referred to as a tumor.
One of UNAIR Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Lecturers, as well as Head of Veterinary Study Program of PSDKU Banyuwangi, dr. Iwan Sahrial Hamid, drh., M.Si., tried to find natural alternative ingredients to inhibit or even destroy cancer cells that have invaded the bodies of living things.
“Based on my previous research with the team, it is known that there is one natural material that has the potential to have activity in inhibiting tumours, namely kencur,” said the lecturer who is often called drh. Iwan.
Kencur or known as Kaempferia galanga L. is not only used as a cooking spice. But in the hands of drh. Iwan, it can be utilized as a natural material to inhibit the process of tumor formation in the body of living things, especially humans and animals.
“The role of kencur in my research is as an inhibitor of angiogenesis, where angiogenesis is a process that succeeds in the formation of cancer cells in the body,” he explained.
Angiogenesis is the process of forming new blood vessels in the body of living things and is a natural process that plays an essential role in wound healing and reproduction. Angiogenesis plays a critical role in the growth and spread of cancer cells. Therefore, blood supply is needed for tumors to grow. Thus, efforts to inhibit the process of angiogenesis run in the same direction as the process of inhibiting the growth of cancer cells.
drh. Iwan and the team used test material in the form of embryonated chicken eggs (TAB) which had been added to various test materials.
“After we prepare the TAB that has undergone angiogenesis, we added kencur extract, and the results are according to our expectations. Kencur inhibits the process of angiogenesis and tumour cells,” said drh. Iwan.
According to drh. Iwan, the use and study of kencur material as a natural remedy in the prevention and treatment of tumor disease need to be continued. Moreover, the proliferation and the actual content of kencur is quite high, and the prospect of kencur as a natural medicine for tumor disease needed by society is possible. (*)
Author: Bastian Ragas
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
Sources: Iwan Sahrial Hamid, Juni Ekowati, Muhammad Thohawi Elziyad Purnama. 2019. Kaempferia galanga L. Inhibiting Effect on Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) Expression on Endothelium of Chorioallantoic Membrane. Indian Vet. J., September 2019, 96 (09): 80 – 82.
