Cancer stem cell

23 Cancer Stem Cell Killing Foods Smarter Than Chemo and Radiation

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Peppermint is one of about 25 varieties of mint. (Oxana Denezhkina)

Peppermint is one of about 25 varieties of mint.

An important scientific review identifies 23 of the top foods and herbs which kill the cancer stem cells at the root cause of cancer malignancy

There are thousands of natural compounds that have been studied with demonstrable anti-cancer activity, but only a small subset of these have been proven to target and kill the cancer stem cells which lie at the root of cancer malignancy. Turmeric, for instance, we have featured a number of times for this “smart kill” property of targeting just the heart of cancerous tumors. More recently, ginger has been found in pre-clinical research to contain a compound up to 10,000 times more effective than the chemotherapy drug Taxol at killing breast cancer stem cells. Even common food like blueberry have special cancer killing properties, as discussed in a previous article: Research: Radiotherapy Causes Cancer, Blueberry Kills It.

A powerful study published in the journal Anticancer Research titled, “Natural Products That Target Cancer Stem Cells,” has made our job much easier of identifying this special category of cancer killers by reviewing the extant literature on the topic and listing the top 25 substances in this category. They are listed here below, along with some of their commonly recognizable dietary sources:

  1. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) – Green Tea
  2. 6-Gingerol – Ginger
  3. β-Carotene – Carrot, Leafy Greens
  4. Baicalein – Chinese Skullcap
  5. Curcumin – Turmeric
  6. Delphinidin – Blueberry, raspberrry
  7. Flavonoids (Genistein) – Soy, red clover, coffee
  8. Guggulsterone – Commiphora (myrrh tree)
  9. Isothiocyanates – Cruciferous vegetables
  10. Linalool – Mint
  11. Lycopene – Grapefruit, tomato
  12. Parthenolide – Feverfew
  13. Perylill alcohol – Mint, cherry, lavender
  14. Piperine – Black pepper
  15. Platycodon saponin – Platycodon grandiflorum
  16. Psoralidin – Psoralea corylilyfolia
  17. Quercetin – Capers, onion
  18. Resveratrol – Grapes, plums, berries
  19. Salinomycin – Streptomyces albus
  20. Silibinin – Milk Thistle
  21. Ursolic acid – Thyme, basil, oregano
  22. Vitamin D3 – Fish, egg yolk, beef, cod liver oil
  23. Withaferin A – Withania somnifera (ashwaganda)

Why Are These Substances so Important?

The primary reason why conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy have failed to produce any significant improvements in cancer survival rates is because cancer stem cells are resistant to these interventions. In fact, chemotherapy and especially radiation are both capable of increasing the number and virulence of these cells in a tumor, while at the same time having the well known side effect of further damaging the patient’s immune system.

While the cancer industry is still very much resistant to incorporating the implications of these findings into their standard of care (which is highly unethical), there are an increasing number of health practitioners that will not turn their back on the truth and are very much interested in alternative ways to prevent and treat cancer using food and/or plant-based approaches.

The new study addresses the relevance of cancer stem cells as follows:

The cancer stem cell model suggests that tumor initiation is governed by a small subset of distinct cells with stem-like character termed cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs possess properties of self-renewal and intrinsic survival mechanisms that contribute to resistance of tumors to most chemotherapeutic drugs. The failure to eradicate CSCs during the course of therapy is postulated to be the driving force for tumor recurrence and metastasis. Recent studies have focused on understanding the unique phenotypic properties of CSCs from various tumor types, as well as the signaling pathways that underlie self-renewal and drug resistance.

At present, the cancer industry has failed to produce a single drug that targets the cancer stem cell population of cells within a tumor, as confirmed by the study:

If indeed the CSC response is a vital criterion for cancer treatment evaluation, there are still no drugs in clinical use that specifically target CSCs.

The cancer stem cell discovery which sheds light on regrowth.

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When different kinds of cancer are tackled, tumors may shrink in reaction to treatments including chemotherapy, but there is often the possibility of them springing back.

Some scientists believe that regrowth occurs because chemotherapy fails to eradicate a small number of cells, known in the field tentatively as ‘cancer stem cells’. It may be the case that these kinds of cells perform the same function in all cancers that create solid tumor masses.

The suspicion of stem cell cancer cells has long been an aspect of research in the field, but the hypothesis has remained controversial — mainly due to the artificial environments that most studies have taken place in, where human cells are transplanted into mice.

Now, studies on three different kinds of cancerous tumor has suggested a key reason why certain types of cells play a part in regrowth – stem cells that fuel the cancer and are not killed by standard therapies.

Published in the journals Nature and Science, the new studies conducted by three independent teams of researchers believe that this discovery may be a breakthrough in the field of cancer research.

Conducting tests on mice, so-called tumor stem cells were identified in the brain, skin and gut. In one case, researchers were able to prove that treating glioblastoma — a fatal brain tumor — with chemotherapy left behind these kinds of cells, and eventually this sparked regrowth.

Luis F. Parada, a molecular geneticist hailing from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and author of one of the studies, said:

“Everything has a soft underbelly once you understand it well. With all the modern molecular techniques and modern approaches we have, we should be able to find their soft underbelly.”

Each study used color markers to detect when tumor cells divided in the mouse hosts. By doing so, the researchers were able to detect which cells did not replicate — and whether old cells can fuel regrowth, or it has to be stem cell subsets.

Robert Weinberg, a biology professor at MIT who was not involved in the new studies said:

“What these three papers have done, through elegant strategies, is demonstrate, indeed there are cancer stem cells. It makes it more and more difficult for people to doubt the existence of cancer stem cells.”

Source: Smart planet