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Plant Lectins in Cancer Treatment: The Case of Viscum album L.
Published in Spyridon E. Kintzios, Maria G. Barberaki, Evangelia A. Flampouri, Plants That Fight Cancer, 2019
Mistletoes, especially European Viscum album L., are very important herbal drugs for complementary and anthroposophic medicine for cancer treatment, and a number of extracts or mistletoe derived compounds are applied against malignancies (Bussing 2000, Mulsow et al. 2016). Many preparations from mistletoes, derived from various hosts, have been used in several assays, and fermented preparations are commercially available such as Abnobaviscum, Cefaleksin, Eurixor, Helixor, Lektinol, Iscador, Iscucin, and Isorel (Thies et al. 2001, Giacometti 2015). Many anticancer compounds have been identified in Viscum album L., such as viscotoxins, flavonoids, triterpene acids, and most important, the mistletoe lectins (Twardziok et al. 2016). Mistletoe contains three galactose and N-acetylgalactosamine specific isolectin groups, MLI, MLII, and MLIII, responsible for anticancer effects. The three isoforms are glycoproteins, classified to the ribosome-inactivating proteins family type II, and they consist of two polypeptide chains, A-chain and B-chain, linked by a disulfide bridge (Voelter et al. 2005). The lectins demonstrate differences in molecular mass and carbohydrate specificity. MLI is a dimer of 115 kDa, formed by two identical subunits, each one consisting of two chains, an A-chain of 29kDa and a galactose-specific B-chain of 34 kDa. The MLII consists of two chains, a 27 kDa A-chain and a N-acetylgalactoseamine specific 32 kDa B-chain, while the MLIII has an A-chain of 25 kDa and a B-chain of 30kDa that binds both sugars (Lavelle et al. 2002, Tonevitsky et al. 2004).
Women’s cancers and complementary and integrative medicine
Published in Jon Adams, Amie Steel, Alex Broom, Jane Frawley, Women’s Health and Complementary and Integrative Medicine, 2018
Janet Schloss, Lise Alschuler, Ellen McDonell
Mistletoe (Viscum album) is a parasitic plant with a long history of use in cancer care. Mistletoe preparations contain various biologically active compounds including lectins, viscotoxins and polysaccharides which contribute to the immunomodulatory and cytotoxic actions of mistletoe (Marvibaigi et al., 2014). Injectable mistletoe extracts have been evaluated alongside conventional treatment for a variety of cancers, including breast (Troger et al., 2014), lung (Bar-Sela et al., 2013), colorectal (Bock et al., 2014) and gynaecological cancers (Ziegler and Grossarth-Maticek, 2010). In general, most studies show benefit for quality of life and side effect outcomes, results are mixed for survival and tumour response outcomes, and methodological concerns are common (Horneber et al., 2012). A 2009 systematic review looking specifically at survival outcomes in cancer patients treated with adjuvant mistletoe therapy found that there was a survival advantage associated with mistletoe, however, publication bias and heterogeneity in methodology were considered high and thus should be interpreted with caution (Ostermann et al., 2009). For breast cancer specifically, the evidence for mistletoe as quality of life support is fairly strong; the Society for Integrative Oncology clinical practice guideline for breast cancer (Greenlee et al., 2017) assigns a grade C for mistletoe, indicating it can be considered for use alongside conventional cancer treatments.
Complementary therapies: a therapeutic model for palliative care
Published in Cooper Jo, Burnard Philip, Stepping into Palliative Care 2, 2017
Mistletoe, apart from being a standard Christmas trimming having Celtic mystical powers, was used, in ancient times, by Arabian physicians.48 It is a semi-parasitic plant member of the Loranthaceae family, first recommended for cancer treatment in 1916 by Rudolf Steiner. It is now marketed under various trade names within Europe. To date, the majority of the scientific scrutiny has focused on isolated compounds and whole plant extracts interchangeably. The essential essence of the herb appears to have stimulating powers on cellular function to assist in the body’s immune response. However, clinical trials have not yet been able to substantiate mistletoe efficacy on cancer.48
Radioprotective effect of mistletoe extract on intestinal toxicity: in vivo study using adult zebrafish
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2023
Sunmin Park, Suhyun Kim, Soonil Koun, Hae-Chul Park, Won Sup Yoon, Chai Hong Rim
Mistletoe extract has been widely used in clinical practice as an auxiliary agent to improve the quality of life of patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy (Kienle and Kiene 2007). Furthermore, mistletoe extract showed anti-tumor effects in preclinical and some clinical studies (Bonamin et al. 2017). However, research on reducing the toxicity of radiation therapy is relatively scarce. We previously reported that the extract of mistletoe, parasitic on Quercus trees, had a radioprotective effect in zebrafish embryos that surpassed amifostine (Rim, Koun, et al. 2019).
Radioprotective effects of mistletoe extract in zebrafish embryos in vivo
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2019
Chai Hong Rim, Soonil Koun, Hae-Chul Park, Suk Lee, Chul Yong Kim
In the present study, Abnoba Viscum Q showed a radioprotectivity at least similar to that of amifostine. Mistletoe extract has been in clinical use for a long time and has already known to be safe for human use. Also, it has been shown in past studies that mistletoe extract effectively helps cancer treatment rather than interferes. Therefore, Abnoba Viscum Q might be a new candidate of clinically useful radioprotectant to enhance the clinical efficacy of radiation therapy.