Pancreatic cancer shows significant resistance to existing treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

"Globally, the incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer continue to rise, with a five-year survival rate of less than 10 percent," study coauthor Narandalai Danshiitsoodol, associate professor at Hiroshima University, said in a press statement.

There's a growing need to find new, effective cancer-fighting compounds—especially those that come from medicinal plants, said Danshiitsoodol.

Fermentation Unlocks Cancer-Fighting Power

The study, recently published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, found that when stevia is fermented with a probiotic, the resulting extract kills pancreatic cancer cells while sparing healthy kidney cells. The fermented extract inhibited cancer growth but did not harm normal cells.

The research team fermented stevia leaf extract using the probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum SN13T, a beneficial bacterium commonly found in fermented foods like sauerkraut, pickles, and kimchi. The researchers noted that fermenting the extract with bacteria can change its structure and produce beneficial compounds called bioactive metabolites.

"To enhance the pharmacological efficacy of natural plant extracts, microbial biotransformation has emerged as an effective strategy," Masanori Sugiyama, a professor of microbiology and biotechnology and coauthor of the study, said in a press statement.

Sugiyama's lab has studied more than 1,200 strains of bacteria from fruits, vegetables, flowers, and medicinal plants, evaluating their health benefits.

The results showed that the fermented stevia leaf extract (FSLE) was more effective at killing cancer cells than the nonfermented version.

Sugiyama said that FSLE was also less harmful to the HEK-293 cells, which are human kidney cells used in the study. Even at the highest dose tested, FSLE caused minimal damage to these cells.

This is important because conventional chemotherapy, such as cisplatin, can damage the kidneys—especially the left one, which is adjacent to the pancreas.