Cancer Treatment Based on Native American Tradition (fwd)

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BBC Reports on Beneficial Cancer Treatment Based on Native American Tradition

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3555566.stm

Ancient remedy 'shrinks cancer'

An ancient native American treatment for cancer has been shown to

have a beneficial effect despite scepticism from the medical

establishment.

Chaparral, an evergreen desert shrub, has long been used by native

Americans to treat cancer, colds, wounds, bronchitis, warts, and

ringworm.

But experts dismissed its worth, and warned it could be dangerous.

Now researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have

shown an extract may shrink some tumours.

Chaparral tea was widely used in the US as an alternative anti-cancer

agent from the late 1950s to the 1970s.

However, the American Cancer Society said there was no proof that it

was an effective treatment for cancer - or any other disease.

And the US Food and Drug Administration warned against its use after

research showed it could damage the liver and the kidneys.

However, initial results from the latest study show that an extract

of the shrub appears not only to be safe, but to have a positive

effect.

The researchers tested a refined extract taken from chaparral called M4N.

They injected it into the tumours of eight patients with advanced

head and neck cancer that had not responded to other forms of

treatment.

The trial was primarily designed to test whether the extract was

safe. The results were encouraging - patients seemed to tolerate it

well, and there was no evidence of the serious liver damage

previously associated with chaparral use.

However, the study also produced some evidence that the extract had

begun to shrink the tumours.

The researchers now plan a larger study aimed at showing whether the

drug really does work.

Trials important

Henry Scowcroft, science information officer at Cancer Research UK,

said: " Chaparral does not have a good track record as an anti-cancer

treatment, but this finding is interesting and suggests that the

active ingredients of the plant should be investigated further.

" Plants are an extremely useful source of anticancer drugs. For

example the drugs vinblastine and vincristine from the periwinkle

plant are used to treat many different cancers.

" And Taxol, which is obtained from the bark of yew trees, is used to

treat ovarian and breast cancer.

" It is extremely important to test plant extracts thoroughly before

they are routinely used in people, to make sure they have no harmful

side effects.

" This is why clinical trials of the M4N chaparral extract will be so

important. "

Head and neck cancer is usually treated with surgery and radiation,

although a few drugs have shown some promise.

But because patients usually do not realise they have cancer until it

has spread, it is very hard to treat.

Results of the study were presented at an International Conference on

Head and Neck Cancer in Washington.

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