Medicament Containing Taraxacum Plant Root Extract for Treatment or Prevention of Cancer, and Method for Preparing Same

Abstract

The present invention relates to an improved method for preparing a medicament comprising a Taraxacum plant root extract for the treatment or prevention of a cancer. In one aspect, the method comprises freezing Taraxacum plant root to obtain a frozen root stock, said freezing step being selected to effect at least partial disruption of one or more root cells; dry grinding the frozen root stock to obtain a ground root powder, wherein during said dry grinding step the frozen root stock is maintained at a grinding temperature below about 40° C.; steeping the ground root powder with a solvent to obtain a suspension having a liquid extract portion and a solid particle portion; and separating the liquid extract portion from the solid particle portion to provide a separated liquid extract for use in the medicament.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for preparing a medicament for the treatment or prevention of a cancer, the method comprising:
 freezing Taraxacum plant root to obtain a frozen plant root stock, said freezing step being selected to effect at least partial disruption of one or more root cells;   dry grinding the frozen plant root stock to obtain a ground plant root powder, wherein during said dry grinding step the frozen root stock is maintained at a grinding temperature below about 40° C.;   soaking or steeping the ground plant root powder with a solvent comprising one or more of water, methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, isopropanol and n-butanol to obtain a mixture having a liquid extract portion and a solid particle portion; and   separating the liquid extract portion from the solid particle portion to provide a separated liquid extract for use in the medicament.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said cancer is a colon cancer, a pancreatic cancer, a blood cancer or a skin cancer. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said cancer comprises said blood cancer or said skin cancer, and is selected from the group consisting of chronic lymphoid leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, chronic monocytic myeloid leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and melanoma. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein prior to said freezing step, the method further comprises drying said plant root to a relative humidity between about 5% to about 10%. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said Taraxacum plant root is a dormant Taraxacum plant root harvested prior to plant blooming or budding or after cessation of bud growth. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said dormant Taraxacum plant root is harvested within about 90 days prior to a blooming or budding season of the Taraxacum plant. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said Taraxacum plant root is from a plant belong to a species selected from the group consisting of  T. officinale, T. erythrospermum, T. albidum, T. japonicum, T. laevigatum, T. erythrospermum  and  T. californicum.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said freezing step comprises contacting or submerging the plant root in liquid nitrogen, or freezing the plant root to an average freezing temperature between about −210° C. and about −30° C. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said dry grinding step comprises dry grinding the frozen plant root stock to an average particle size of less than about 100 μm. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said dry grinding step comprises dry grinding the frozen plant root stock with a grinder selected from the group consisting of a pulverizer, an impingement grinder and a micronized milling machine, and wherein the grinder or a component thereof is cooled below about −25° C. to prevent heating on contact with the frozen plant root stock or the ground plant root powder. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the grinder or a component thereof is cooled with liquid nitrogen. 
     
     
         12 . The method of claim I, wherein said solvent comprises one or more of water, pentane, cyclopentane, cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, 1,4-dioxane, chloroform, diethyl ether, dichloromethane, tetrahydrofuran, ethyl acetate, acetone, dimethylformamide, acetonitrile, dimethyl sulfoxide, propylene carbonate, formic acid, n-butanol, isopropanol, n-propanol, ethanol, methanol, and acetic acid. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said solvent is water, ethanol or a mixture of water and ethanol. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said soaking or steeping step comprises soaking the ground plant root powder in water at a soaking temperature between about 5° C. and about 100° C. for a period of about 5 minutes to about 24 hours with or without stirring. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said separation step comprises at least one of filtration and centrifugation, and wherein the filtration is performed once or more than once using a plurality of filters of same or different pore sizes, and the centrifugation is performed at 5000×g to 8000×g. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said separation step comprises filtering the mixture at least twice with a first filter having a first pore size of about 0.45 μm and a second filter having a second pore size of about 0.22 μm, and wherein one or both said filters are selected to remove a bacteria. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein prior to The dry grinding step, the method further comprises dicing said plant root to produce a plurality of root pieces having an average dimension selected between about 0.2 cm and about 1.5 cm. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said grinding temperature is below about −25° C., or below about −40° C. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises freeze drying the separated liquid extract to obtain an extract powder, and optionally mixing the extract powder with one or more of a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, a diluent, a binding agent, an adjuvant and an anticancer agent. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein said anticancer agent is one or more of metformin, hydroxyurea, cyclophosphamide and etoposide. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein said medicament comprises a dosage form having the extract powder in a range of about 5 mg/kg weight/day to about 1000 mg/kg weight/day. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein said medicament comprises a daily dosage form having the extract powder in a range of about 0.5 g to about 70 g. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said dormant Taraxacum plant root is harvested about 30 days prior to said blooming or budding season.