Mistletoe

Mistletoe

Mistletoe is widely prescribed immune therapy used in treating cancer patients in Europe both as concurrent therapy with chemotherapy and as adjuvant treatment. Subcutaneous injections of mistletoe lectins have been studied in over 25 cancer clinical trials in Europe, Russia and other countries, but thus far not in the U.S. The bulk of the data suggests anti-tumor activity across several tumor types. In Europe, mistletoe remains one the most extensively studied herbal preparations with over 1,000 published scientific articles.

Mistletoe products are sold as Iscador, Helixor, Abnoba viscum, Isorel, Eurixor, and Plenosol.

Preclinical studies have shown cytotoxic, carcinostatic and immunomodulatory effects both in vitro and in vivo on a variety of tumor cells.

Clinical studies have also shown cytotoxic effects of mistletoe over various tumor types. Most of these studies report improvements in response, survival and/or 'quality of life' although many of these reports were of less than ideal designs (i.e. small studies, lack of randomization or lack of appropriate assessment of clinical improvement).

Safety

Data have shown mistletoe has low toxicity and it is safe for use in cancer patients. In fact, mistletoe is widely used as anti-cancer therapy in Europe, particularly in Germany, where most of the research has been carried out.

Although mistletoe extracts have yet to undergo large randomized clinical investigation in the treatment of cancer in the United States, this botanical has been extensively researched in Europe where is often prescribed as a botanical for anti-cancer treatment.

http://depts.washington.edu/integonc/clinicians/act/mistletoe.shtml