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Bromelain

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Utility of Bromelain and N-Acetylcysteine in Treatment of Peritoneal Dissemination of Gastrointestinal Mucin-Producing Malignancies

Abstract

The pineapple, botanically named Ananas comosus, has been used for centuries as a folk medicine by the indigenous inhabitants of Central and South America. The medicinal qualities of the plant are attributed to bromelain, the aqueous extract of the pineapple, which has been available as a pharmaceutical product since 1957. The beneficial effects of bromelain are attributable to its multiple constituents. Bromelain is primarily comprised of sulfhydryl-containing proteolytic enzymes. It also contains escharase (a nonproteolytic component with debriding effects), peroxidases, phosphatases, glucosidases, cellulases, several protease inhibitors, glycoproteins, carbohydrates, and organically bound calcium. Bromelain has been shown to interact with a variety of effectors and pathways involved in physiological processes such as inflammation, immune response, and coagulation. Bromelain has been used as a supplement with health benefits, and also tested, alone or in combination with other agents, in preclinical and clinical settings for the management of a number of clinical conditions, including infections, inflammatory diseases, musculoskeletal injuries, and thrombotic and ischemic disorders. As an anticancer agent, however, bromelain has been the subject of limited preclinical and clinical observations. In this chapter, history, pharmacological features, potential and actual applications, and safety profile of bromelain are reviewed.

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  1. St. George Hospital, The University of New South Wales, Kogarah, NSW, Australia

    Afshin Amini, Samar Masoumi-Moghaddam & David L. Morris

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Amini, A., Masoumi-Moghaddam, S., Morris, D.L. (2016). Bromelain. In: Utility of Bromelain and N-Acetylcysteine in Treatment of Peritoneal Dissemination of Gastrointestinal Mucin-Producing Malignancies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28570-2_3

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