Research on the medicinal value of wild yam root extract (WYE) has shown evidence suggesting anticancer properties, particularly for breast cancer and in both hormone receptor-positive and triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC), where it alters epigenetic 5-hydroxymethylcytosine DNA patterns, induces toxicity, halts cell cycle, inhibits fatty acid synthase and modifies the activity of estrogen and progesterone hormone receptors. WYE contains hundreds of constituent saponins such as deltonins, dioscoreavillosides, diarylheptanoids, diosgenin, and dioscin; the latter two alone can slow breast tumor growth and migration, deter stem cell phenotype and cause cell death in various models[2].
[1] P. Komesaroff. “Effects of wild yam extract on menopausal symptoms, lipids and sex hormones in healthy menopausal women.” Climacteric 4 1 (2001): 144–150.
[2] Elizabeth Mazzio. “Effects of Wild Yam Root (Dioscorea villosa) Extract on the Gene Expression Profile of Triple-negative Breast Cancer Cells.” Cancer Genomics & Proteomics 18 6 (2021): 735–755.
