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If you remember as a child being told that on no account should you eat the berries of the mistletoe as certain death was sure to result, it may come as something of a surprise to learn that this supposedly highly toxic plant is now widely used as one of the treatments in the fight against cancer. Please do not eat the berries until further research has been done. Also, never use it for cancer treatment without your doctor's approval.
A parasitic evergreen, growing high in the branches of soft wood trees such as apple, pear, poplar, ash and less often, on oak, has long been venerated for its medicinal properties by many cultures throughout Britain and Europe. The ancient Druids held the plant almost as sacred as the oak and would only cut it with a golden knife during the sixth day of the moon. Its hallucinogenic properties were greatly prized and they used it as a cure-all for headaches, infertility, arthritis, epilepsy and other kinds of nervous disorders.
Traces of its use have even been found among Native Americans who brewed it into a tea and used it for headaches, lung diseases and a cure for love sickness.
Now the healing properties of mistletoe are being utilised in the fight against cancer with some interesting research and clinical trials showing that extracts of the plant seem to have an inhibiting effect on tumor growth, and increase the plasma B-endorphin levels which directly affect pain and mood levels in patients undergoing chemo and radiation therapy.
These mistletoe derived drugs have not undergone the necessary clinical trials in the US and so are not available for use as cancer treatment, but in Europe and Asia they are readily available and are marketed as anti-cancer drugs, Iscador, Eurixor, Helixor, Isorel, Vysorel, and ABNOBviscum.
It is in Europe and Asia that most of the research surrounding the effectiveness of mistletoe has taken place.
The drug is given as an intramuscular or subcutaneous injection, sometimes in the vicinity of the cancer tumor itself or as an intravenous infusion.
Although clinical trials are sparse and the results from which have proved rather inconclusive, mistletoe seems to combat cancer in two distinct ways.
One is by directly attacking cancer cells by stimulating the immune system into releasing certain chemicals that are damaging to tumors. Trials with one of the mistletoe derived cancer drugs, IscadorM also suggests that this is achieved without causing damage to the immune system cells, a common side affect of many cancer inhibiting drugs.
IscadorM was also found to improve DNA repair in breast cancer patients, which is damaged by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Poor DNA repair in white blood cells critical to cancer survival is common in cancer patients and decreases the white blood cells ability to recognize and remove malignancy.
In an experiment conducted on patients with advanced breast cancer, one dose of IscadorM was given intravenously, followed by daily subcutaneous injections for seven days. Blood samples were studied for DNA repair mechanisms in white blood cells. At days seven and nine, there was a 2.7%-fold average increase in DNA repair, with 12 out of 14 of these patients showing improvement.
Encouraging results have also been obtained in trials where patients have shown marked improvement in quality of life and a more positive out look after taking a small non-toxic dose of galactose-specific lectin.
This seemed to activate a non-specific immune defense response and increase plasma B-endorphin levels which is believed to have a moderating effect on pain and mood in cancer sufferers.
One study undertaken on patients with advanced pancreatic cancer showed that although mistletoe did not decrease progression of the disease, it did improve life quality.
Patients were given subcutaneous injections of the EurixorTM preparation twice weekly, but no other treatments. Questionnaires filled in by the patients indicated that quality of life was stable, which is surprising in patients undergoing cancer therapies, especially where pancreatic cancer is concerned as it has such a poor prognosis.
Another trial on patients with advanced brain tumor showed that EurixorTM enhanced immune function and improved quality of life during radiation therapy.
Patients were randomly split into two groups and given either subcutaneous injections of mistletoe extract twice weekly for three months plus standard cancer treatments or standard cancer treatments alone.
The patients receiving mistletoe showed a significant increase in the number of white blood cells and overall immune function. Further trials seem to suggest that using mistletoe in conjunction with other therapies can decrease some of the side effects of radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Research done in laboratories indicates that mistletoe extracts may even stabilise DNA and prevent it from mutating. It this does prove to be the case, then mistletoe may not only help prevent cancer, but prove useful when used with chemotherapy in avoiding tissue damage.
Unfortunately, much of the research and evidence surrounding mistletoe as an anti-cancer treatment is inconclusive. This is due mainly to the small number of trials taking place and the poor documentation that surrounds some of them. Other factors play their part in producing inconclusive results, such as the varying quality of the mistletoe, when it was harvested, what tree it grew on and what part of the plant was actually used.
The good news is that warning your mother gave you about eating mistletoe berries may not prove as lethal as she predicted. Tests under taken in Germany prove that the berries of the European mistletoe are only slightly toxic and the leaves not at all. Studies of people, including children, who had eaten the berries showed that the vast majority, although suffering symptoms as diverse as convulsions, headaches, stomach upsets and distorted vision all recovered without medical aid.
Although not lethal, it is not recommended that the berries are eaten or that home made cancer remedies are made from mistletoe extracts.
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