H.”ere is an article that some might be interested in: There are many more news articles about this. The research was done at University of Windsor in Canada and the clinical trial is at the Windsor Cancer Center. There is also some ongoing research of cancer cells and various types of mushroom extracts. (from Windsor Star Newspaper). It is being studied on acute leukemia but may be of intersest for those with CLL.
Human clinical trials on for cancer killing dandelion extract
2 min. readView original
UWindsor biochemistry researcher Siyaram Pandey has the official go-ahead to test dandelion root extract as a treatment for patients with terminal cancer. Dr. Pandey and his student researchers have successfully shown in the lab how the extract causes cancer cells to go through apoptosis, or cell suicide, while leaving healthy cells alone.
“This is fantastic news,” says Pandey. “We’ve been waiting for this announcement for a long time and now it is real.”
Tuesday’s announcement has special meaning for a project dedicated to the memory of Kevin Couvillon, who lost a three-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia in November 2010. The following year Couvillon’s parents, Dave and Donna Couvillon, made a substantial contribution to Dr. Pandey’s research on natural extracts as possible cancer treatments.
Sunday, February 15, would have been Kevin’s 31st birthday. At this time each year the research team gathers to give a progress report to the Couvillons as well as to other financial contributors and members of the community. Dave Couvillon says this year’s event was especially encouraging with the announcement that the clinical trial received permission to proceed from Health Canada.
“We strongly feel that Kevin would want us to continue to fight against cancer so that others would be spared such a cruel fate,” says Donna Couvillon. “Natural medicine allows one’s own immune system to be part of healing process and we wholeheartedly support this endeavour and the excellent research done by this team.”
The dandelion root formula in use in the Pandey lab is about five times more concentrated than the extract that can be purchased over the counter and has been proven to kill leukemia, melanoma and pancreatic cancer cells in lab mice.
In 2012, Caroline Hamm, an oncologist at the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre, made the application to Health Canada to proceed with human clinical trials.
Pandey says the trial is now open for referrals with room for 30 patients who have exhausted all other cancer treatments. He says he is grateful for financial support from the Knights of Columbus Council 9671; Seeds4Hope; India Canada Association of Windsor; Pajama Angels and Joseph Szecsei. The project has also received government funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
“This is huge, such a big accomplishment,” says Dave Couvillon. “To see it happening is the first step and now we need to keep our fingers crossed that they get the right kind of results and we’re confident they will.”
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Cancer-killing dandelion tea gets $157K research grant | CBC News
Researchers in Windsor, Ont., have received an additional $157,000 grant for a total of $217,000 to study how effective dandelion root extract is in fighting cancer.
An extract from the Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center Integrative Medicine Herbs database, mskcc.org/cancer-care/integ... notes, with my emphasis;
"In vitro and in vivo studies suggest that dandelion has lipid-lowering (13), hepatoprotective (14), antiviral (15) (16), anticoagulant (5), diuretic (10), anti-inflammatory (14), and antioxidant (4) activities. A polyherbal extract containing dandelion was reported effective against acute non-bacterial tonsillitis in children (30).
Dandelion root extract demonstrated anticancer effects against melanoma (3) and leukemia (26), as well as pancreatic (17) and colorectal (25) cancer cell lines. It also showed estrogenic activity. Preclinical studies suggest increased proliferation of hormone-sensitive breast cancer cells as well as increased uterine weight in immature female rats (24). In addition, it can cause allergic reactions and may interact with some prescription drugs. There have been a few case reports of potential benefit in patients with blood cancers (29), but it is unclear whether this was definitively due to dandelion supplementation. Clinical trials are needed to determine the conditions under which dandelion may be safe and effective."
26. Ovadje P, Hamm C, Pandey S. Efficient induction of extrinsic cell death by dandelion root extract in human chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) cells. PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e30604. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030604.
29. Rahmat LT, Damon LE. The Use of Natural Health Products Especially Papaya Leaf Extract and Dandelion Root Extract in Previously Untreated Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia. Case Rep Hematol. 2018;2018:7267920.
So, the anticancer properties of dandelion root show most promise for myeloid blood cancers. On the other hand, the estrogenic activity and increased uterine weight in immature female rats indicate that it could possibly accelerate female uterine and maybe even breast cancers. It's only through human clinical trials that we'll determine whether and where it can help or be contraindicated.
I hope this trial gives positive results, but unfortunately only 5% of therapies tested in animals end up as human drugs.
The article noted that the doctor leading the clinical trial saw an improvement in her patients who had been drinking dandelion root tea. Yes it was studied on animals but now is in clinical trials with human subjects.
I can recommend the book "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" by Siddhartha Mukherjee, published in 2010. He covers how president Nixon was encouraged by a woman lobbyist to announce "war on cancer". As part of that program, thousands and thousands of biological and other substances were collected from around the world and checked for activity on cancer cells on microscope slides (in vivo). That led to the development of chemotherapy cures for childhood leukaemia, which had previously had a fatality rate of 100%. Leukaemia is the ideal cancer for cancer research, because it's so very easy to sample changes in the tumour with treatment.
With respect to potential CLL treatments, look for studies on mature B cell cancers, rather than myeloid blood cancers, as CLL develops in the lymphoid stem cell line, so have different cell signalling pathways.
Neil
CLL cells arise in the lymphoid stem cell line (right of hematopoeisis diagram)
When I saw the word dandelion in the subject line, it brought back vivid memories of when my father had stomach cancer in the 1990s. He ate dandelion weeds for the nausea during his chemotherapy, which in turn helped to relieve the side effects that were associated with it. It makes me feel that much more grateful for the current treatments used for CLL patients.
It will be very interesting to see the outcomes of this as I (and now all my family) are great fans of dandelion tea. I was introduced to it 10 years ago by a great medical herbalist the reason being that it is a very powerful antiviral. As soon as anyone started with a cold, the dandelion tea came out to great effect. As you can imagine in this time of covid, it hasn't been far from reach - just in case!
This from montieth original post. As ever therapeutic doses are not available from simple extracts.
The dandelion root formula in use in the Pandey lab is about five times more concentrated than the extract that can be purchased over the counter and has been proven to kill leukemia, melanoma and pancreatic cancer cells in lab mice.
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