Mistletoe Therapy
Most people are extremely surprised to learn that Mistletoe – the curious holiday decoration – is one of the most well studied natural medicines in the world. They are even more surprised that in many parts of Europe – primarily Germany and Switzerland – Mistletoe therapy is prescribed for over 60%of cancer patients. Furthermore, the treatment is paid for by health insurance companies and is therefore approved by their health regulatory agencies.
Mistletoe is primarily used as an adjunct or add-on/complementary therapy to enhance the effects of standard of care or conventional cancer therapies.
In addition, it is used to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence in cancer survivors and as a cancer prevention measure in persons at increased risk for cancer. Such as persons with a genetic predisposition to cancer and those with a strong family history of cancer.
Long before it showed up in holiday traditions, mistletoe was highly regarded in Norse and Greek Mythology. Mistletoe appeared as a key or wand allowing legendary heroes to travel safely back and forth between the land of the living and the Underworld.
The ancient druids (priests, magicians and soothsayers in the ancient Celtic religion) used mistletoe as a promoter of fertility and longevity.
Early European herbalists recommended mistletoe for epilepsy and as a sedative, especially for those who had suffered great loss.
Though mistletoe had many applications in early herbal medicine, it has taken thousands of years to unlock the modern secrets of mistletoe.
Over centuries, Western medical literature accumulated stories of cancer patients developing feverish infections, eventually overcoming the infection and having their tumour shrink or go into total remission. These “developments” were early clues regarding immunotherapy. Only in recent years would researchers link the role of warmth and immune-modulation as a potential cancer therapy. The infection induced fevers seemed to heighten immune activity which led to a breach of the cancer’s microenvironment and elimination of the cancerous cells.
Today, because of scientific advancement, we have identified mistletoe’s primary medicinal constituents. These include, but in no way are limited to inflammatory (warmth inducing) lectins, viscotoxins, anti-inflammatory flavonoids and substances that interact with nerve cell – GABA – receptors that have a calming or sedative effect. Primarily the viscotoxins and lectins are both directly cytotoxic to cancer cells and immune stimulating. The combination of active compounds in mistletoe extract appears to result in a general immune surveillance effect.
Mistletoe therapy assists in breaching the cancer’s microenvironment and damaging cancer cells. Simultaneously, it supports the white blood cells’ ability to identify the tumour as a threat and disburse that information throughout the body.
The goal of mistletoe therapy is to create a” mantle of warmth that envelops the patient”, immune balance and systemic regulation throughout the body to support optimal conditions for remission and healing.
Mistletoe Lectins – Mistletoe lectins are a group of complex proteins that bind to specific cancer cell surface carbohydrate groups. Mistletoe Lectins I, II and III have demonstrated destructive effects on cancer cells, with Lectin III being the most potent and Lectin I being the least.
A fourth unique lectin, chitin-binding agglutinin, in mistletoe appears to interact more with immune cells, heightening their activities.
Mistletoe Viscotoxins – Viscotoxins are plant defensins that plants produce to protect themselves from parasites, bacterial and fungal infections. Human cells also produce some defensins.
Normal, healthy human cells have a positively charged cell surface. The cell surface of rapidly dividing cancer cell has a negatively charged cell surface. Viscotoxins preferentially bind to the negatively charged cancer cell membranes and literally” punches” a hole (pore) into the membrane. This pore allows calcium to flood into the cancer cell resulting in loss of structural integrity and destruction.
In addition, once the pore is wide enough, the viscotoxin itself enters the cell, binding with and further destroying cellular components.
Other Mistletoe Constituents – Other constituents of mistletoe include flavonoids like quercetin (induces apoptosis or programmed/normal cell death), thiol such as glutathione (the body’s master anti-oxidant) and several triterpenes which have been studied for their ability to inhibit metastasis and induce apoptosis.
The most important take-away from the above is the specificity of lectin-binding to cancer cell surface carbohydrates and viscotoxins preference for binding with cancers rapidly-dividing, negatively charged cell surfaces.