Some Medicinal Plants Stop the Growth of Cancer Cells

Cancer is a result of mutations in the DNA that were caused by free radicals and X-rays.

Cancer cells grow much faster than healthy cells. Cancer starts as a tumor in a single mitotic cell, that is a cell of a sibling; not a meiotic cell or egg or "seed" of a man. A mitotic cell duplicates itself and the added one cell means a growth. When tumor cells become malignant they escape from the matrix that confine them and spread, through the blood and lymph fluid, to other cells. This process is called metastasis. Or the malignant cells proliferate in place, called cancer in situ.

I have a Hub "How X-rays and Free Radicals in Cigarette Smoke, Not Tar, Cause Cancer and Heart Disease." This Hub elaborates the mechanism how free radicals and x-rays cause cancer and heart disease which starts with atheroma. Atheroma is a benign tumor to which gather collagen. cholesterol. other debris and calcium resulting in plaque.

One principle in halting the growth of cancer cells is to disable their ability to form proteins with which to form duplicate cells.

This occurs when a cancer cell, already a result of mutation, is further mutated. The mutations are in the form of shortening of the chromosome, breakage, thickening, or deletion. These are aberrations that occur in the chromosome whose one component is the DNA, the heredity material.

The University of the Philippines at Los Baños, located in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines has been running tests on plants with a reputation of being medicinal. This test is called karyotyping. In this method, the aberrations in the chromosome are visible through the ordinary optical microscope. Karyotyping is introduced in one laboratory exercise done by students in a Genetics course. I did this exercise in college when i took up Agriculture.

For their thesis, a requirement for graduation, some Genetics major students conduct karyotyping on some medicinal plants like periwinkle, duhat, banaba, and bitter gourd.

Periwinkle and duhat (Sysygium cumini L.) were standouts in causing aberrations in chromosomes. Periwinkle is already popular as an antidote to blood cancer (leukemia) when prepared as a concoction.

Another medicinal plant that had been tested for killing colon cancer is the noni (Morinda citrifolia L.), in the form of capsule, tea and fresh fruit juice. Concentrations of 2.5% to 5% were tried and both concentrations killed colon cancer cells. This test was done by researchers of the University of the Philippines Manila that offers courses in medicine. It manages the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) that also serves as laboratory for medical students. PGH is a medical center itself.

I have another Hub on the use of medicinal plants to treat diabetes and cancer.

A mitotic cell that had sustained mutation in its DNA accumulates more mutations to the extent that it cannot repair itself (Cummings, M. Human Heredity. 2009).. One way of self-repair is by apoptosis or programmed cell death which is normal for cells that are replaceable. Nerve cells, brain cells and cardiovascular cells are irreplaceable and therefore do not undergo apoptosis (Cranton, E. MD. Bypassing Bypass. Updated second edition. 1995).

[Leukemia can be cured by means of stem cell therapy. Cord blood, that contains stem cells, is now being used.]

Cancer cells caught in their early stages by agents that cause aberrations in their chromosomes stop growing. There is a high probability that apoptosis will be revived on them so that they may regress, that is, go away. They may be phagocytosed (or engulfed) by neighboring healthy cells. This explains some anecdotes of cancer cells being cured by medicinal plants.

New entries as of August 8,2013

I have mentioned it somewhere else but it is worth mentioning here. Three years ago an old woman who is a family friend told me she had a malignancy in her stomach. She showed me an X-ray of it. She told me her doctor noticed that it was growing in size.

I had just discovered the potency of noni juice against tumor and cancer. I advised her to take noni juice. I delivered some two bottles to her then she herself bought bottles of the juice in a store near her home.

She has a grandson who recently became a licensed doctor of medicine. He insisted that she goes through an operation on her stomach. She did. It was found out that the malignancy turned into myoma.

I speculate that the malignancy regressed into myoma that is a non-malignant tumor. I attribute the regression to noni juice.