Links to research on natural cancer treatments

Here are some links and terms that I've found helpful during my research of natural treatments for Cancer. I've highlighted some items that caught my attention, but please read these documents in their entirety when making your own decisions. Not all of the links are about prostate cancer and also include data on breast cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, and others.

By the way, it’s also encouraging to see that the medical community is also starting to realize that the body can heal itself (aka immunotherapy).  The problem is that they propose accomplishing that with drugs (which always seem to have nasty side effects).

http://home.ccr.cancer.gov/connections/2014/Vol8_No1/intheclinic.asp

http://www.cancer.gov/researchandfunding/progress/immunotherapy-using-immune-system-to-treat-cancer

What is Cancer?

Per the National Cancer Institute

Cancer is the name given to a collection of related diseases. In all types of cancer, some of the body’s cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues.

Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells. 

Normally, human cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old or become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place.

When cancer develops, however, this orderly process breaks down. As cells become more and more abnormal, old or damaged cells survive when they should die, and new cells form when they are not needed. These extra cells can divide without stopping and may form growths called tumors.

Many cancers form solid tumors, which are masses of tissue. Cancers of the blood, such as leukemias, generally do not form solid tumors.

Cancerous tumors are malignant, which means they can spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. In addition, as these tumors grow, some cancer cells can break off and travel to distant places in the body through the blood or the lymph system and form new tumors far from the original tumor.

Apoptosis:

The death of cells that occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism's growth or development.

Frankincense

Also known as olibanum,1 comes from the Boswellia genus trees, particularly Boswellia sacra and Boswellia carteri. The milky white sap is extracted from the tree bark, allowed to harden into a gum resin for several days, and then scraped off in tear-shaped droplets.

Apoptosis in human cancer cells. - a great explanation of why the body doesn't just flush out cancer cells

Anticancer activity of essential oils and their chemical components - a review (Published Nov, 2014)

Essential oils are widely used in pharmaceutical, sanitary, cosmetic, agriculture and food industries for their bactericidal, virucidal, fungicidal, antiparasitical and insecticidal properties. Their anticancer activity is well documented. Over a hundred essential oils from more than twenty plant families have been tested on more than twenty types of cancers in last past ten years. This review is focused on the activity of essential oils and their components on various types of cancers. For some of them the mechanisms involved in their anticancer activities have been carried out.

Characterization of 3alpha-acetyl-11-keto-alpha-boswellic acid, a pentacyclic triterpenoid inducing apoptosis in vitro and in vivo  (Abstract, published 2009)

3Alpha-acetyl-11-keto-alpha-boswellic acid (3alpha-acetoxy-11-oxo-olean-12-en-24-oic acid, 1) was synthesized by a radical-type reaction using bromine and 3alpha-acetyl-alpha-boswellic acid isolated from the oleo-gum-resin of Boswellia carterii. 1D and 2D NMR (COSY, HMBC, ROESY) at 500 MHz were used for shift assignments and structure verification. The compound investigated is present in a herbal preparation extracted from Boswellia serrata oleo-gum-resin, it inhibits the growth of chemotherapy-resistant human PC-3 prostate cancer cells in vitro and induces apoptosis as shown by activation of caspase 3 and the induction of DNA fragmentation. In addition, compound 1 is active IN VIVO as shown by inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in PC-3 prostate cancer cells xenotransplanted onto the chick chorioallantoic membrane.

Frankincense oil derived from Boswellia carteri induces tumor cell specific cytotoxicity (Research Article, published Mar, 2009)

Frankincense oil appears to distinguish cancerous from normal bladder cells and suppress cancer cell viability.

Myrhh, fragrant resin with ancient heritage, may bear anti-cancer agents Press Release, published Dec, 2001

The myrrh compound appears to kill cancer cells by inactivating a specific protein, called Bcl-2, which is overproduced by cancer cells, particularly in the breast and prostate, the researcher says. Overproduction of this protein is believed to promote the growth of cancer cells and make cells more resistant to chemotherapy.

Boswellia sacra essential oil induces tumor cell-specific apoptosis and suppresses tumor aggressiveness in cultured human breast cancer cells (Abstract, published Dec, 2011)

CONCLUSIONS:

Similar to our previous observations in human bladder cancer cells, Boswellia sacra essential oil induces breast cancer cell-specific cytotoxicity. Suppression of cellular network formation and disruption of spheroid development of breast cancer cells by Boswellia sacra essential oil suggest that the essential oil may be effective for advanced breast cancer. Consistently, the essential oil represses signaling pathways and cell cycle regulators that have been proposed as therapeutic targets for breast cancer. Future pre-clinical and clinical studies are urgently needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Boswellia sacra essential oil as a therapeutic agent for treating breast cancer.

Frankincense oil derived from Boswellia carteri induces tumor cell specific cytotoxicity (published Mar, 2009)

CONCLUSION:

Frankincense oil appears to distinguish cancerous from normal bladder cells and suppress cancer cell viability. Microarray and bioinformatics analysis proposed multiple pathways that can be activated by frankincense oil to induce bladder cancer cell death. Frankincense oil might represent an alternative intravesical agent for bladder cancer treatment.

Acetyl-keto-beta-boswellic acid induces apoptosis through a death receptor 5-mediated pathway in prostate cancer cells (Abstract, published Feb, 2008)

Acetyl-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA), a triterpenoid isolated from Boswellia carterri Birdw and Boswellia serrata, has been found to inhibit tumor cell growth and to induce apoptosis. The apoptotic effects and the mechanisms of action of AKBA were studied in LNCaP and PC-3 human prostate cancer cells. AKBA induced apoptosis in both cell lines at concentrations above 10 microg/mL. AKBA-induced apoptosis was correlated with the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-8 as well as with poly(ADP)ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage. The activation of caspase-8 was correlated with increased levels of death receptor (DR) 5 but not of Fas or DR4. AKBA-induced apoptosis, caspase-8 activation, and PARP cleavage were inhibited by knocking down DR5 using a small hairpin RNA. AKBA treatment increased the levels of CAAT/enhancer binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) and activated a DR5 promoter reporter but did not activate a DR5 promoter reporter with the mutant CHOP binding site. These results suggest that AKBA induces apoptosis in prostate cancer cells through a DR5-mediated pathway, which probably involves the induced expression of CHOP.

Molecular targets for green tea in prostate cancer prevention. (Abstract, published Jul, 2003)

In cell-culture systems that employ human PCa cells DU145 (androgen insensitive) and LNCaP (androgen sensitive), we found that the major polyphenolic constituent (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) of green tea induces 1) apoptosis, 2) cell-growth inhibition, and 3) cyclin kinase inhibitor WAF-1/p21-mediated cell-cycle dysregulation.