European mistletoe extracts kills colon tumor
A case report published this year at the Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases suggests that mistletoe extracts can render a therapeutic effect against benign colon tumor or maybe colon cancer.
According to the report, a 78 year old man received surgery to remove a stage IIIC colon cancer, but refused to take chemotherapy. Five years later, doctors found a benign colon tumor or high degrade dysplasia colon adenoma. The tumor could not be surgically removed and the patient did not want to undergo surgical treatment to remove it.
Instead, doctors injected an extract of Viscum album or European mistletoe directly into the tumor twice in hopes that it could inhibit the growth of the tumor.
As a result, eight months later after the second injection, the tumor disappeared, and biopsy did not show intraepithelial dysplasia or adenoma.
The authors say that extracts of Viscum album have immune-stimulatory and cytotoxic effects and they are known to improve the quality of life and prolone survial in patients with advanced pancretic cancer.
This case report was the first of its kind to reveal a Viscum album extract can result in complete regression of colon tumors following intratumoural injection.
Adenomatous colon polyps, particularly adenomatous polyps (adenomas) with high grade dysplasia, are often precursors to colon cancers. Mistletoe extracts can be a new and effective treatment to eliminate colon polyps without surgery.
Mistletoe alkali helps bone cancer
Mistletoe extracts can help many types of cancer. A study published this year in the Journal of Surgery indicates that mistletoe alkali, a compound isolated from Viscum coloratum (Komar.) Nakai, a type of mistletoe plants, can help fight bone cancer or osteosarcoma.
The bone cancer has poor prognosis because conventional treatments including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy do not help the cancer much. Viscum coloratum (Komar.) Nakai has proved effective at improving the prognosis of patients with various malignancies.
The in vitro study conducted by Chinese researchers shows that mistletoe alkali inhibited proliferation of culture bone cancer cells and induced apoptosis more effectively than fluorouracil (5-FU). Mistletoe alkali was also found more effective than 5-FU at reducing the invasiveness of the bone cancer cells.
5-FU is a chemotherapy treatment that is commonly used to treat many types of cancer including breast cancer, bowel cancer, skin cancer, stomach cancer, oesophageal (gullet) cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
The researchers conclude that "mistletoe alkali significantly inhibited growth and invasion abilities of U2OS cells and induced their apoptosis in vitro. Mistletoe alkali may be a more effective drug for Human Osteosarcoma than the standard chemotherapeutic drug 5-FU."
Mistletoe fights pancreatic cancer
Summary
Mistletoe extracts or its isolates are commonly used in Europe to treat various cancers. Mistletoe is one of the natural treatments that have been most extensively researched for its anti-cancer effect against a variety of cancers.
A summary on mistletoe preparations and cancer treatments released by the U.S. National Institute of Cancer provides more detailed information about mistletoe and cancer treatment. (Note that the government document does not recognize that mistletoe extracts have any therapeutic effect.) (David Liu)
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