Spirulina Enhances Anti-Cancer ‘Natural Killer Cell’ Abilities

“Natural killer cells” sound like cells you don’t want to run into in a dark alley. Well, if you’re a tumor cell or a virus, that’s true. These cells have unique abilities to recognize foreign invaders in the body and eradicate them. Recent research indicates spirulina, an algae found largely in fresh water, is able to activate these cells and use them to target tumors.

Spirulina is an ancient super-food, used for centuries as a natural medicine. It’s good for your eyes, skin, blood sugar, and it’s a cancer-fighter. A recent study from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan indicates spirulina’s tumor fighting abilities may come from its ability to boost “natural killer cells”.

“Oral administration of hot-water extract of Spirulina, cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis, leads to augmentation of NK cytotoxicity in humans. Here, we applied to syngeneic tumor-implant mice (C57BL/6 versus B16 melanoma) Spirulina to elucidate the mechanism of raising antitumor NK activation…Spirulina and BCG-cell wall skeleton synergistically augmented IFN-gamma production and antitumor potential in the B16D8 versus C57BL/6 system. We infer from these results that NK activation by Spirulina has some advantage in combinational use with BCG-cell wall skeleton for developing adjuvant-based antitumor immunotherapy.”

 The researchers implanted tumors into mice. They then administered spirulina orally and watched the mice for molecular signals. As they watched, the mice went through changes indicating killer cell activation. The implanted melanoma cells slowly regressed under the fire of these killers, until they annihilated the entire tumor.

As NaturalNews reports:

“Molecular communications with in vitro bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells showed further natural killer cell activation properties that were derived from the oral spirulina treatments. Furthermore, through studies of cellular communication, the researchers noted that spirulina enhances NK activation against tumors through one specific pathway in the mice. A specific immune cell also worked in coordination with spirulina to exert synergistic antitumor activity. This BCG cell wall skeleton worked with spirulina to boost IFN gamma production, strengthening antitumor potential. When the two are used simultaneously, natural killer cells increase down the specific MYD88 pathway, creating an antitumor immunotherapy advantage.”

In addition to being a cancer-fighter, this deep sea superfood has numerous other benefits. It’s rich in protein and nutrients, and it’s a good source of antioxidants. It helps purify the blood and can aid in detoxing heavy metals like mercury and arsenic.

Source: NaturalSociety

Tis the Season: Mistletoe Extract Doubles Survival Rates of Cancer Patients

Several studies have focused on mistletoe and its potential, positive effect on cancer. Though research is inconclusive, many of the studies show that mistletoe’s anti-cancer properties work to kill various cancer cells. Further, the Christmas decor could be an alternative to toxic chemotherapy.

One study focuses on mistletoe and pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with a mortality rate of around 80% during the first years after diagnosis. It strikes 44,000 Americans each and every year and conventional treatments haven’t been able to do much to prolong their lives.

This latest research, however, indicates it could offer assistance to those diagnosed with a deadly disease.

Carried out in Serbia and published in the European Journal of Cancer, the study began with 220 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. All participants received supportive care. The treatment group also received subcutaneous injections of mistletoe extract three times each week, with doses starting at 0.01 mg and increasing to 10 mg.

Those patients who started the study with a “good” prognosis and received no mistletoe extract lived 3.2 months, on average. Those with a good prognosis and mistletoe extract had twice the life expectancy, 6.6 months. Study participants who received a “poor” diagnosis averaged 2 months without mistletoe extract and 3.4 months with the treatment. Further, the participants treated with mistletoe extracts had feweradverse events than the others. They had only 16 events where those not treated with the plant had an average of 53!

This is far from the first study implicating mistletoe as a potential cancer treatment. It has also been linked to improvement in cancers of the breast, cervix, uterus, ovaries, stomach, colon, lung, and skin.

In addition to these cancer studies of modern time, folk medicine applications have indicated mistletoe in the use of treating strained muscles, toothaches, sores, itching, impetigo, ulcers, animal bites, and intestinal parasites.

One research with another study points out how the most effective extract comes from a species called Fraxini, which was extremely potent and safer than chemotherapy. Researcher Zahra Lotfollahi said:

“This is an important result because we know that chemotherapy is effective at killing healthy cells as well as cancer cells. This can result in severe side effects for the patient, such as oral mucositis (ulcers in the mouth) and hair loss. Our laboratory studies have shown Fraxini mistletoe extract by itself to be highly effective at reducing the viability of colon cancer cells. At certain concentrations,Fraxini also increased the potency of chemotherapy against the cancer cells.”

This initial study mentioned is important, though, as it is specific to this particularly deadly form of cancer. The researchers conclude:

“VaL (Ciscum album, mistletoe) therapy showed a significant and clinically relevant prolongation of OS. The study findings suggest VaL to be a non-toxic and effective second-line therapy that offers a prolongation of OS (overall survival) as well as less disease-related symptoms for patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.”

Source: NaturalSociety

Can we Eat to Starve Cancer?

William Li presents a new way to think about cancer treatment: angiogenesis, targeting the blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that beat cancer at its own game.

It is very inspiring to see that there are people out there who are striving to find cures and answers through nature, as well as through modern medicine. Enjoy!

Source: TED

Sea Cucumber Found to Kill 95% of Cancer Cells and Shrink Tumors

Sea cucumber has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years, but they are relatively obscure in the U.S. This may be soon changing, however, as evidence mounts that sea cucumber extracts can kill cancer cells while stimulating the immune system.

As reported by Ethan Evers, author of “The Eden Prescription, previous research on sea cucumber has demonstrated its ability to kill lung, breast, prostate, skin, colon, pancreatic, and liver cancer cells. These extracts have also proven effective in killing leukemia and gioblastoma cells. Looks like we can add yet another food to the list of anti-cancer foods.

Scientists believe a key compound known as frondoside A to be responsible. Frondoside A is a triterpenoid, diverse organic compounds found in the essential oils and oleoresins of plants.

This latest study, published in PLoS One, has confirmed just how powerful frondoside A truly is. Researchers found it to kill 95% of ER+ breast cancer cells, 95% of liver cancer cells, 90% of melanoma cells, and 85-88% of three different types of lung cancer.

As Evers reports:

“But the benefits of this compound don’t just stop at directly inducing programmed cell death (apoptosis). It also inhibits angiogenesis (the ability of tumors to grow new blood vessels to get their food) and stops cancer metastasizing by impeding cell migration and invasion. Even more intriguing is the ability of frondoside A to activate our immune system’s natural killer cells to attack cancer cells. This has been shown for breast cancer in particular but may also apply to all cancers, because it involves the immune system and not cancer cells directly. This may partially explain why frondoside A was so effective at shrinking lung tumors in mice that it rivaled chemo drugs in performance.”

When given to mice with non-small cell lung cancer, frondoside A was found to shrink tumors by 40% in only 10 days. Traditional chemo drugs shrunk the tumors by 47 percent, but the risks of chemo treatment are far greater than any side-effects or risks of sea cucumber. (Namely because there are no known risks associated with sea cucumbers). In addition, the amount of frondoside A needed to achieve such results was miniscule—less than a single milligram for an adult weighing 165 pounds.

While sea cucumber extracts aren’t currently offered as a treatment for cancer—at least not in your traditional doctor’s office—you can find dried and powdered sea cucumber in health stores. It is packaged as a solution to arthritis and similar conditions because of its anti-inflammatory properties.

Additional Sources:

Pubmed/18800890

Pubmed/19162021

Pubmed/21741966

Source of this article: NaturalSociety