Interactions with Rosemary

In vitro, rosemary extract increased the sensitivity of drug-resistant MCF-7 human breast cancer cells to doxorubicin (Plouzek et al. 1999). This interaction may have been due to inhibition of doxorubicin binding to P-glycoprotein, which is responsible for efflux of chemotherapeutic agents from cells. Additional clinical studies are needed to confirm these effects in humans.

References

Plouzek CA, Ciolino HP, Clarke R, Yeh GC. Inhibition of P-glycoprotein activity and reversal of multidrug resistance in vitro by rosemary extract. Eur J Cancer. 1999;35(10):1541-1545.

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