Nitric Oxide of Noni, a Medicinal Plant, Controls Cancer like Chemotherapy but without Side Effects

How does noni, a medicinal plant, control tumor and cancer?

There had been reports that noni controls tumor and cancer. Take these four:

One. "...Mice with the deadly Lewis Lung Carcinoma were treated with Noni extract, and subsequently their life span was significantly increased between 105%-123%...The researchers concluded that the Noni juice '... seems to act indirectly by enhancing host immune system involving macrophage and/or lymphocytes'" (Qutab, A. Nitric Oxide, The Molecule of Life. 2010:39-40).

Two. “Another cancer trial published in the cancer journal, Angiogenesis, looked at the the effects of Noni juice on tumors; it was found that Noni was highly effective in reducing both the growth rate and the proliferation of malignant tumors” (Qutab, A. Nitric Oxide, The Molecule of Life. 2010:40).

Three. Recently, scientists at the University of the Philippines Manila found that “noni juice has cytotoxic effects both on normal lymphocytes, mouse myeloma and human colon cancer cell lines that were used” (De Guzman, T; L. R. Embuscado, B. Monte, Valdez, Ma. T. “A Preliminary Study on the In vitro Anti-Cancer Potential of the Commercial Preparation and Decoction of Morinda citrifolia.” The UP Manila Journal, 2004. vol. 9:42-53). Tested were commercial capsule, tea, and fresh fruits. All three extracts at 5% concentration down to 2.5% were effective on normal lymphocytes; all three at 5% down to 1.25% were effective on colon cancer; capsule extract at 5% down to 2.5% was effective on mouse myeloma cells.

One of the conclusions of the researchers is that the active ingredient of noni in the control of cancer must be isolated. (They did not have a clue that it is arginine that converts to nitric oxide).

Four. I was involved in an informal trial on the effectiveness of noni juice in reversing cancerous cells into myoma, a kind of tumor. Mrs. Cenona D. Asunsion, who lives in Grove, Batong Malake, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines, had cancer in her stomach. Some five years ago she showed me an x-ray plate of her malignant tumor, about 2 cm in size. It was growing in size, an evidence of its malignancy, her doctor told her. I urged her to take noni juice. She obliged and told me she had consumed about 7 litters of bottled juice. She was not taking any medication or chemetherapy against her malignant tumor at the time she took noni juice. She has a grandson who is a doctor in conventional medicine. He insisted upon her to get operated on to cut out those cancerous cells while they were still confined in a small area. When the lump was taken out it was found to be myomatous no longer cancerous.

Lymphocyte is an antibody, a defense against foreign body invasion; myeloma is malignant tumor of bone marrow. In vitro means test tube. “The results showed that particular concentration of noni juice extracts could kill cancer cells in vitro”

How does noni juice “kill” cancer cells? It can destroy the chromosomes of tumor or cancer cells like other medicinal plants. Extracts from the leaves of duhat (Syzyggium cumini L.), chichirica (Chatharanthus roseus L.), and damong Maria (Artemisia vulgaris L.), and tablets of charantia (Momordica charantia L.) were tested on blood of man to see if they can cause damage to the chromosomes (Mendioro, M.S.; Cu, S.; Gruezo, G. M.; Palma, M.C.;Villamael, L.N; and Tandang, R.N. 2001. Cytogenetic Effects of Medicinal Plants for Diabetes Mellitus on Human Leukocytes Culture In vitro. The Philippine Agricultural Scientist, Jan-Mar, vol. 84 no. 1, pages 58-63). All hampered cell division in blood cells, preventing the production of more cells (growth) or replacement of damaged cells. Also they caused mutations like gaps, breaks, loose sister chromatids, and condensation in chromosomes.

Recent research has provided a better understanding of how noni juice or capsule kills cancer cells. I will attempt to provide a hypothesis.

Let us start with facts:

(1)”...Noni was highly effective in reducing both the growth rate and the proliferation of malignant tumors” (Qutab)

(2) “noni juice has cytotoxic effects both on normal lymphocytes, mouse myeloma and human colon cancer cell lines that were used” killing mouse myeloma and human colon cancer cell in the test tube (De Guzman, et al.)

(3) Noni juice reversed the cancerous cells of Mrs. Asuncion to myomatous cells.

How to explain the reduction in growth rate of malignant tumor, killing of colon cancer cells in test tube and reversal of cancerous cells to myomatous cells in a human being?

Let us start with a common sense explanation, thus:

“Noni juice contains a poison that is poisonous to tumor and colon cancer.”

This explanation is in the form of a hypothesis that consists of concepts and a relationship among concepts.

The concepts are” noni juice,” “poison,” “tumor” and “colon cancer.” The relationship is “is poisonous.”

We dropped “malignant” in the term “malignant tumor” for brevity. Sometimes malignant tumor is synonymous to cancer. However, let us distinguish tumor from cancer. Both start from a single cell whose DNA had been mutated. Tumor cells proliferate but are confined in the area of origin whereas cancer cells profilerate, the cells breakout from the area of origin and invade other areas of the body in a process called metastasis.

“Noni juice,” “poison” and “is poisonous” are in still in the language of common sense. “Tumor” and “colon cancer” already belong in scientific language.

“Is poisonous” translates into a scientific language, thus: “mutates.” “Mutates” still needs some elaboration. A cell whose DNA had been mutated grows in an uncontrollable manner and turns immortal. Growth consists in doubling the number of its cells in a few minutes resulting in lumps and production of poisons.

Nitric oxide

Noni juice contains an element that turns poisonous to tumor or cancer. That element is arginine that is a precursor of nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide (NO) is synthesized by nitric oxide synthase (NOS) from L-arginine, an amino acid. (L means left). NO is a free radical gas with a life span of few seconds (Spieker, L.S. et al. “The Vascular Endothelium in Hypertension.” The Vascular Endothelium II.2006:249-269).

Earlier, NO was given the loose name endothelium-derived relaxation factor (EDRF) by Robert Furchgott. It is produced and released by the endothelium, the inner wall of arteries to dilate the artery. Ferid Murad found that nitroglycerin (Isordil, Imdur) used as vasodilators to alleviate angina or chest pain in one suffering from heart disease produces nitric oxide. Louis Ignarro found that ERDF and nitric oxide are the same. The findings of the three combine to explain how nitroglycerin works. Furchgott, Murad and Ignarro shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1998. Their work has spurred medical research on nitric oxide and its role in treatment of heart disease.

There are three kinds of nitric oxide synthase, one is endothelial eNOS, another is neuronal nNOS. The third is the inducible form (iNOS) that is an “important inflammatory mediator expressed in macrophages, vascular smooth muscle and other cells in response to immunological stimuli (Palmer et al. 1992)....” (Spieker, L.S. et al.). That stimulus can be a bacterial attack, or tumor or cancer.

We must revise the hypothesis to reflect nitric oxide, thus:

“Nitric oxide derived from arginine contained in noni juice mutates DNA of tumor and cancer cell resulting in death of tumor and reversal of cancer into tumor.”

This form of the hypothesis combines common sense language and scientific language.

DNA means deoxyribonucleic acid that makes the heredity material.

Dr. Qutab in his book mentioned nitric oxide as involved in the control of growth rate of malignant tumor. However, he did not specify which species of nitric oxide. This absence of specification has been a source of confusion since nitric oxide appears to be useful and harmful at the same time.

We must make “nitric oxide” more specific, that is “nitric oxide produced by the enzyme inducible nitric oxide synthase” designated as NO^-/iNOS. This is a gas free radical mediated by the macrophage, a component of the immune system. NO^-/iNOS is one of the free radicals produced by the endothelium, the cells lining the inner wall of the artery (Ornish, D. MD. Dr. Dean Ornish Program for the Reversal of Heart Disease. 1990). Other species of NO^- produced by the endothelium are endothelial nitric oxide (eNO^-) and neuron nitric oxide (nNO^-). eNO^- is the messenger that tells the artery to dilate. It acts like nitroglycerin (Isordil) that alleviates angina or chest pain. nNO^- is also a dilator.

Take note of the negative sign in NO^- that means it is a free radical that can grab one electron from another molecule. A free radical is an atom or a molecule or fragment of a molecule that has at least one unpaired electron in its outermost orbital or path of electron around the nucleus. That unpaired electron is unstable and to stabilize itself grabs one electron from another molecule. That grabbing causes an injury, and if the DNA is the victim, DNA of a cell is mutated resulting in tumor or cancer.

NO^-/iNOS is a free radical that mutates the DNA of a cell. Mutation of tumor cells results in death of the tumorous cell that will be eventully phagocytosed or obsorbed by healthy cells in the neihborhood. That is why in the long term the lump of dead tumor cells will be reduced and may disappear.

We are familiar with free radicals mutating the DNA of a cell resulting in death,” kill” for short. The free radical singlet oxygen kills cancer cells (Pressman, Allan. H. D.C., Ph.D., C.C.N. with Sheila Buff. 1998. Glutathione: The Ultimate Antioxidant). Singlet oxygen is produced by chemotherapy drugs like Adriamycin.

Singlet oxygen is a former molecular oxygen that had absorbed energy. Molecular oxygen has two unpaired electron that spin around its nucleus in parallel direction. Absorbed energy reverses the spin of one unpaired electron resulting in two unpaired electron spinning in opposite directions. This makes singlet oxygen doubly more harmful than molecular oxygen because it can grab two neighboring electrons at the same time. Molecular oxygen can grab only one electron at a time.

[Conventional medicine does not tell about free radicals, though. The reason is that conventional medicine snubs the concept of free radical as causing death of cells or causing disease. I have several Hubs on this topic, “It is unethical to deny that free radicals cause heart disease,” Chemotherapy unintentionally provides evidence of alternative medicine.”]

There are 64 medicinal ingredients in noni (Elkins, R. The Noni Revolution. 2002). Among them all, arginine has the greatest amount.

Gene therapy

There is another mode by which NO^-/iNOS kills tumor and cancer cells. That is by gene therapy.

By means of recombinant DNA technology, the gene that controls the enzyme inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is delivered to tumor or cancer cells. Once iNOS gets into the cancer cell, this cancer cell produces nitric oxide that kills the cancer cell and abnormal neighboring cell. It is not necessary that all other cancer cells get the gene that induces iNOS. NO/iNOS, that lasts for a generation, kills other cancer cells in the vicinity.

The gene therapy developed to kill cancer cells has been successful in mice and test tube.

“The inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene product yields nitric oxide (NO), which directly induces autotoxicity and cytolysis of bystander cells (Kuroki, M. “Gene Therapy in Cancer Via Use of a Retrovector Having a Tumor Specificity and Expressing Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase.” Nitric Oxide Protocols. Hassid A. Editor. Second edition. 2004:201-211).

Autotoxicity is production of poisons; cytolysis is break up of cell membrane resulting in cell death; bystander cell means any abnormal neighboring cell. Retrovector involves recombinant DNA technology where a virus is used.

Stem cell therapy

A technology has been developed that does need a vector like virus to deliver a gene to the cell. This has been developed in stem cell research and therapy. Recall that Shinya Yamanaka was able to reprogram adult cells (skin) back to pluripotent stem cells that can produce embryonic stem cells. He discovered four genes that do the reprogramming: Oct4, Sox2, Klf44, and c-Myc.. These were delivered by virus. Recently,it was found that the virus is no longer needed. For example, these genes (c-Myc had been replaced with Nanog) are just left mixed with skin cells in the culture medium. The skin cells produce induced pluripotent stem cells. Yamanaka and Sir John Gurdon are recipients of Nobel Prize in medicine for their research in stem cells (Internet, June 29,2014).

This vectorless technology shows that inducible nitric oxide synthase can penetrate a tumor or cancer cell and produce nitric oxide inside them. Besides, the macrophage mediates iNOS and macrophage guards against foreign bodies like tumor and cancer. So these are easily accessed by inducible nitric oxide synthase.

Whichever way nitric oxide is delivered, the fact is that it kills tumor and cancer cells. There is no side effect.

Threat to Big Pharma

Big Pharma will not like this: noni, arginine, nitric oxide produced by inducible nitric oxide synthase being a cure for tumor and cancer. It threatens big profits for Big Pharma. It threatens huge grants for cancer researchers who snub free radicals as part of their research framework.

Summary

“Nitric oxide from arginine of noni kills tumor and cancer cells.”

This short sentence in semi-scientific language explains how noni juice or capsule control tumor and cancer. This explanation can serve as a basis of treatment. This explanation predicts, functioning as a theory.

Nitric oxide from arginine of noni cures tumor and cancer.

Copyright 2014. Conrado D. Fontanilla