methyl jasmonate: crushing gardens and cancer too!

[mericanfiend]

After much research into PGRs (thanks spurr et al.), I've learned that not only is methyl jasmonate an excellent "signal transduction intermediate", it has also been found to have "cytotoxic effects towards metastatic melanoma both in vitro and in vivo"! That's right, this shit kills cancerous cells son!

Quotes above from the abstract for:

"Methyl jasmonate: a plant stress hormone as an anti-cancer drug"
Cohen S, Flescher E.
Phytochemistry. 2009 Sep; 70 (13-14):1600-09​

See also:

"Methyl jasmonate abolishes the migration, invasion and angiogenesis of gastric cancer cells through down-regulation of matrix metalloproteinase"
Zheng et al.
BMC Cancer. 2013, 13:74​

This information isn't necessarily news but it is new to me!

Jasmonates: novel anticaner agents acting directly and selectively on human cell mitochondria"
Rotem et al.
Cancer Research. 2005 March; 65:1984-93​

I stumbled upon these studies after a telephone conversation with a major west coast "nutrient scientist" who berated me for using Jaz Spray, in the process claiming that all PGRs are evil and potentially carcinogenic... Google knew where to lead me hahaha... Put that in your pipe and smoke it, scientist!

I hope this thread is relevant... it definitely provides me with a little peace of mind, having regularly sprayed Jaz foliars after flowerset for a minute now...

 

[Only Ornamental]

Don't be too excited... there are a lot of publications with anti-cancer claims of natural and not so natural compounds and at the end, nearly none show any use in daily life (unfortunately) . Problems are often selectivity (for example, they aren't tested against healthy cells and/or affect too many different molecular targets), concentration (it is easy to get active concentrations in a cell culture dish but as soon as you eat that stuff...), resorption, metabolism, stability in general and in the body, and so on.
Jasmonic acid derivatives are volatile, unstable, quickly metabolised, and present only at pretty low concentration in the plants... In the publications you cited, methyl jasmonate is active in the low millimolar range. Low micromolar would be a good start for a natural product though pharmaceutical industries are looking for compounds active in the nanomolar range (a million times more active than MeJA!). If ever, only chemical engineering (synthesis of derivatives) may lead to something useful (we'll see in 5, 10 or 20 years).
There's another point: Compounds abundant in nature, even if they show acceptable in vitro activities, show often not much use in vivo. That may come from co-evolution; our metabolism is adapted to a constant challenge (via ingestion) and has developed tools to get rid of them quickly. If all the plants with found anti-cancer activities would work the way the publishing authors imply in their conclusions the world would already be a better place (at least one without cancer).

Sorry to destroy your hope and joy.

 

[mericanfiend]

^^^ Not destroyed at all... But thank you very much for the information and insight! That's why I come here!!!

My joy comes from finding studies showing that jasmonates are not necessarily harmful to my health. My hope is that humanity can rid itself of greed and provide a free worldwide cure for cancer at some point before I die of it hahaha!

Thanks again for the info!

 

[wantaknow]

i thought i just read a post where pgr s where in ferts and have been removed from the shelf ?are we talking about the same thing ,as in flower hardners?

 

[Only Ornamental]

@wantaknow: In principle yes .
There are natural plant hormones like jasmonates and there are 'plant growth regulators' (PGR) being of synthetic origin. Now, methyl jasmonate is (AFAIK) a plant hormone found in nearly every higher plant but in synthetic form (to spray on crops) it's still termed PGR. There are a lot of PGRs having an unnatural structure or are replicates of rare hormones. Both may be dangerous and toxic for human health especially at higher concentrations -> that's maybe why they (whoever they are) removed them from the shelf? Jasmonic acid and methyl jasmonate are very abundant, have a very low toxicity, bear a chemistry which looks pretty safe (for example no halogenation and no aromates), and they are quickly metabolised and degraded (no soil or body accumulation).

 

[wantaknow]

wow this hobby is just more and more complicated for a backwoods hillbilly like myself ,glad you guys are on your toes ,who was it that said stoners were dumb?oh yeh the gubment,go figure .....