Flavokawain A (FKA) is the predominant chalcone identified from the kava plant. We have previously shown that FKA preferentially inhibits the growth of p53 defective bladder cancer cell lines. Here, we examined whether FKA could inhibit bladder cancer development and progression in vivo in the UPII-SV40T transgenic model that resembles human urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC) with defects in the p...

Flavokawain A (FKA), a major chalcone in the Kava plant, has recently demonstrated promising anti-cancer activities. A systematic evaluation of FKA's safety profile has not been reported before. In this study, male FVB/N mice were fed with an AIN-76A diet or AIN-76A diet supplemented with 0.6% (6 g/kg food) FKA or 0.6% commercial kava root extract (KRE) for three weeks. Dietary feeding of FKA d...

HER2/neu positive breast tumors predict a high mortality and comprise 25%-30% of breast cancer. We have shown that Flavokawain A (FKA) preferentially reduces the viabilities of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cell lines (i.e., SKBR3 and MCF7/HER2) versus those with less HER2 expression (i.e., MCF7 and MDA-MB-468). FKA at cytotoxic concentrations to breast cancer cell lines also has a minimal ...

INTRODUCTION The kava-kava plant (Piper methsyticum) is traditionally known as the pacific elixir by the pacific islanders for its role in a wide range of biological activities. The extract of the roots of this plant contains a variety of interesting molecules including Flavokawain A and this molecule is known to have anti-cancer properties. Breast cancer is still one of the leading diagnosed c...

HER2/neu positive breast tumors predict a high mortality and comprise 25-30% of breast cancer. We have shown that Flavokawain A (FKA) preferentially reduces the viabilities of HER2 overexpressing breast cancer cell lines (i.e. SKBR3 and MCF7/HER2) versus those with less HER2 expression (i.e. MCF7 and MDA-MB-468). FKA at cytotoxic concentrations to breast cancer cell lines also has minimal effec...

S phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2) has been shown to be required for spontaneous tumor development that occurs in the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) deficient mice. Here we have demonstrated that flavokawain A (FKA), a novel chalcone from the kava plant, selectively inhibited the growth of pRb deficient cell lines and resulted in a proteasome-dependent and ubiquitination-mediated Skp2 deg...