Moringa Oleifera is blessed with anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic anti-cancer properties

Phyto-medicines are both popular and economically necessary in indigenous systems of health-care, if only because indigenous people usually can’t afford to pay for allopathic drugs, high-tech procedures and surgery. Furthermore, there may be medical reasons to prefer this type of medicine from the viewpoint of toxicology and efficiency. Among many other tropical and subtropical anti-cancer plants, Moringa Oleifera , also known as drumstick tree in English-speaking countries, is one of those popular “plant-food-medicine” which is particularly abundant in South Asia, from the Philippines, to Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, India and beyond.

In this perspective, Moringa Oleifera, as a food, is gifted with many nutrients and amino acids, including lots of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. (1) As a healing plant, Moringa Oleifera provides various phenolics as well as a rich and rare combination of zeatin, quercetin, beta-sitosterol, caffeoylquinic acid and kaempferol, all of which blesses this plant with antipyretic, antiepileptic, antiinflammatory, antiulcer, antispasmodic, diuretic, antihypertensive, cholesterol lowering, antioxidant, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, antibacterial, antifungal and anti-cancer properties.(2)

Focusing on cancer, the preponderance of the evidence corroborates that moringa oleifera’s essential oils (Section A), its leaf (Section B) and its combination with chemotherapy (Section C) can have beneficial healing consequences that help to better control and reverse cancer.

SECTION A: MORINGA OLEIFERA ESSENTIAL OIL: A POTENT CANCER CYTOTOXIC AGENT

In the Asian Pacific Journal for Cancer Prevention, a recent 2015 study showed that different cell lines that where subjected to moringa seed’s essential oil, at increasing oil concentrations ranging from 0.15 to 1 mg/mL for 24 hours showed a significant reduction in cancer’s cell viability apparatus. It’s conclusion, in pertinent part, is that “… seed essential oil from M. oleifera has potent cytotoxic activities against cancer cell lines”. (3).

SECTION B: IN VITRO AND IN VIVO EVIDENCE THAT MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF HAS  ANTI PROLIFERATIVE AND PRO APOPTOTIC EFFECTS

In the Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, a recent study published in February 2015 demonstrated that doses 5 and 10 mg/kg, p.o. of moringa oleifera leaf extract had significant reduction in body weight and increased the mean survival time compared to the control group. These results were also comparable to the standard, 5-Fluorouracil, treated animals (4). In this perspective, an older study published in the Journal of Food Chemistry Toxicology concluded that the leaf extracts from M. oleifera had strong anti-cancer proliferation properties accompanied with a potent induction of apoptosis. (5) Reinforcing these findings, another study published in Plos One from April 2014 showed that the soluble cold Distilled Water extract from moringa oleifera:

“…greatly induced apoptosis, inhibited tumor cell growth, and lowered the level of internal reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human lung cancer cells as well as other several types of cancer cells”. (6)

When correctly prepared (7) and with the indicated therapeutic dosage, substantial  evidence confirms that moringa oleifera not only significantly reduces cancer cell proliferation and invasion, but it can also activate key genes (8) while targeting selective cytotoxicity against tumor cells (sparing the healthy cells).

SECTION C: MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF EXTRACT COMBINED WITH CONVENTIONAL CHEMOTHERAPY CAN HELP TO INHIBIT THE GROWTH OF PANCREATIC CANCER CELLS VIA THE NF-KB SIGNALING PATHWAYS

As the Advanced Cancer Research Institute has shown in its advanced cancer protocol research work, targeting cancer’s inflammatory cascade is necessary. To this end, Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB), a pro-inflammatory transcription factor, plays a significant role not only in the growth of malignancy, but also in the resistance of pancreatic cancer cells to apoptosis-based conventional chemotherapy. In this perspective, Moringa Oleifera leaf extract has been shown to inhibit the growth of pancreatic cancer cells, the cells NF-κB signaling inflammatory pathway, that which can increase the efficacy of cisplatin chemotherapy in human pancreatic cancer cells. (9)

DISCUSSION

Despite the advancements in cytotoxic cancer chemo-therapeutics, malignancy chemotherapy is still associated with severe adverse impacts, including, but not limited to nephrotoxicity, nausea, hair loss, skin irritation, anemia, and infertility given its non-selectivity problem. (10)

As a consequence naturally occurring anticancer compounds from natural plants, especially those with low toxicity and high potency, have great value for clinical oncology. In this posted article, Advanced Cancer Research Institute has shown that soluble moreinga oleifera extracts can effectively prevent cancer cell proliferation while its cytotoxicity, contrarily to chemo agents like cisplatin, targets more cancer cells than normal cells (i.e., which shows that normal cells are more resistant to the extract than cancer cells).

Even though most cancer researchers admit ignoring why natural molecules’ selectivity prevails over synthetic analogs, the ACR Institute has found emerging evidence that suggests that this difference is based on a protective synergistic multi-paths mechanism of action versus the synthetic analog’s one pathway modality. In other words, natural molecules contain both cytotoxic agent and their protective shields while synthetic analogs usually don’t.

CONCLUSION

Agents that can selectively increase the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy while protecting other vital tissues while they reduce cancer cells’ chemo-resistance to cancer drugs are as much needed as are new immunotherapeutic approaches and anti-cancer stem cell techniques, thanks to which we would register meaningful treatment improvement.

In recent years, natural whole plants have drawn more attention via peer reviewed studies for their pharmacological effects in the treatment and prevention of various diseases due to their high biocompatibility, low toxicity, and strong biological activity. (11)  These benefits also apply to malignancies, including to one of the key challenges of modern oncology, the efficient and safe targeting of cancer stem cells. (12)

Even though there may not be much pharmaceutical profitability with this “third world” tropical and semi-tropical plant, both the FDA and its corporate clients should invest in moringa oleifera human clinical trials in order to better determine the safety and efficiency margins of moringa oleifera in comparison to other anti-cancer drugs and-or in combination with them, thanks to which we may be better able to reverse the cancer epidemic and alleviate crippling costs.

As for the Advanced Cancer Research Institute’s contribution, we have both collected anecdotal evidence (Cf video clip section) and prepared  a report on the safety and efficiency of natural plants insofar as cancer reversal is concerned.

Pr. Joubert (Director of Advanced Cancer Research Institute)

Moringa Oleifera. CC-3.0 Picture License

PRECISION AND REFERENCE NOTES

(1). Abdull Razis AF1, Ibrahim MD, Kntayya SB., Health Benefits of Moringa Oleifera, Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2014;15(20):8571-6.  Moringa oleifera is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Moringa, which is the only genus in the family Moringaceae. English common names include: moringa, drumstick tree (from the appearance of the long, slender, triangular seed-pods), horseradish tree  (from the taste of the roots, which resembles horseradish), ben oil tree, or benzoil tree (from the oil which is derived from the seeds). It is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree, native to the southern foothills of the Himalayas in northwestern India, and widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas where its young seed pods and leaves are used as vegetables. In addition to its use as herbal medicine, it can also be used for water purification and hand washing.

(2). Anwar F1, Latif S, Ashraf M, Gilani AH., Moringa oleifera: a food plant with multiple medicinal uses, Phytother Res. 2007 Jan;21(1):17-25.

(3). Elsayed EA1, Sharaf-Eldin MA, Wadaan M., In vitro Evaluation of Cytotoxic Activities of Essential Oil from Moringa oleifera Seeds on HeLa, HepG2, MCF-7, CACO-2 and L929 Cell Lines. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2015;16(11):4671-5.

(4). PLoS One. 2014; 9(4): e95492. Published online 2014 Apr 18

(5). Sreelatha S1, Jeyachitra A, Padma PR. , Antiproliferation and induction of apoptosis by Moringa oleifera leaf extract on human cancer cells. Food Chem Toxicol. 2011 Jun;49(6):1270-5. Apoptosis is the mechanism by which an old or alterned cell dies.

(6). Jung, Il, Soluble extract from Moringa oleifera leaves with a new anticancer activity, PLoS One. 2014 Apr 18;9(4):e95492.

(7). For the cold water extraction at 4°C; concentration, 300 µg/mL.

(8). Over 90% of the genes tested were unexpectedly downregulated more than 2-fold, while just below 1% of the genes were upregulated more than 2-fold in MOL extract-treated cells, when compared with nontreated cells. Since severe dose-dependent rRNA degradation was observed, the abnormal downregulation of numerous genes was considered to be attributable to abnormal RNA formation caused by treatment with MOL extracts. Jung, op. cit..

(9). Sreelatha, op cit.

(10) Sánchez-González PD, López-Hernández FJ, López-Novoa JM, Morales AI (2011) An integrative view of the pathophysiological events leading to cisplatin nephrotoxicity. Crit Rev Toxicol 10: 803–821

(11) Li H, Wu WK, Li ZJ, Chan KM, Wong CC, et al. (2010) 2,3′,4,4′,5′-Pentamethoxy-trans-stilbene, a resveratrol derivative, inhibits colitis-associated colorectal carcinogenesis in mice. Br J Pharmacol 160: 1352–1361

(12). See ACR’s Intitute’s cancer stem cell report.

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