The Christmas Berry Plant and Potential Help for an Eye Disease

The Christmas berry (Ardisia crenata) is an attractive shrub in the primrose family, or the Primulaceae. It grows in the wild and as a cultivated plant. Scientists have discovered that in lab equipment a specific chemical from the plant destroys a particular kind of human cancer cell. This doesn't necessarily mean that the chemical can be used to treat cancer in humans, but the discovery is certainly interesting and may eventually have practical benefits.

The Christmas Berry plant

Credit: Dick Culbert, CC BY-2.0 License

The Christmas or Coral Berry Plant

Ardisia crenata is also known as the coral berry plant. The plant produces white to pale pink flowers in the summer and then attractive red berries at Christmas and beyond. The shrub has thick, leathery leaves that have a glossy green appearance. They are roughly oval in shape and have a pointed tip and scalloped edges. I think it's understandable why the plant is liked. The shrub generally reaches a height of one-and-a-half to three feet but is capable of reaching six feet. It reproduces by seeds and by vegetative cuttings.

The Christmas berry is native to East and Southeast Asia. It requires some shade and in nature grows as an understory plant in the forest. In the right environment, the plant grows well outdoors in
North America—sometimes too well. It's considered to be an invasive plant in certain areas, so it's often best to keep it indoors. Other plants besides Ardisia crenata are sometimes referred to a "Christmas berries". It's important that anyone interested in obtaining a plant looks at its scientific name to check whether it's really the species that they want.

Credit: Bruce Blaus, CC BY-3.0 License

The Uvea of the Eye

The new discovery is related to the uvea of the eye. The human eyeball is composed of three layers: the outer sclera, which is visible at the front of the eyeball as the white of the eye, a middle layer, and the inner retina. The middle layer as a whole is known as the uvea. It consists of the iris at the front of the eye, the ciliary body, and the choroid, which contains blood vessels.

In the illustration above, the ciliary body is shown but not labelled. It's the pink projection above and below the lens. There's only one ciliary body in an eye. It's a circular structure, which is why it looks as though there are two ciliary bodies in the eye section shown in the illustration. The structure contains the ciliary muscle, which changes the shape of the lens. It also secretes a fluid called aqueous humour. This fluid has important functions in the front part of the eyeball.

Uveal Melanoma Research

In uveal melanoma, the cells that become cancerous are the melanocytes. The function of the cells is to make a pigment called melanin. Some treatments for uveal melanoma are available. Unfortunately the cancer sometimes spreads to the liver, which can make it harder to treat. An improved treatment would be a wonderful advance.

The recent research related to uveal melanoma is exciting and hopeful, but it's important to remember that the results were obtained in lab equipment and not in living organisms. The researchers were associated with the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and the Ichan School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in the United States.

The scientists investigated the effect of a Christmas berry chemical on uveal melanoma cells. The experimental compound was obtained from the plant's leaves and has the rather unappealing name of FR900359. Thankfully, the name is often abbreviated as FR. It was actually discovered thirty years ago. 

The researchers found that the chemical blocks a particular type of G protein located on the surface of cancerous uveal cells. The protein normally acts as a signaling molecule. In uveal melanoma, the protein molecule is mutated (altered), triggering a process that causes cells to become cancerous. When moderate doses of FR blocked the mutated proteins in the lab experiment, the uveal cells "appeared to revert from cancerous cells to typical uveal cells". Higher doses of FR killed the cancerous cells.

Future Research

The researchers plan to test the chemical on lab animals. If this effort is successful and the chemical is shown to be safe, they plan to test it on humans. The leader of the research team says that he's "very optimistic". Time will tell whether his optimism is justified. I very much hope that it is.

References

Ardisia crenata information from the Invasive Species Compendium (ISC)

A Christmas berry plant compound and uveal melanoma from the EurekAlert news service