Oleander Found to Induce Autophagy Against Cancer Cells

by Tony Isaacs

September 19, 2007

Phoenix Biotech manager Dennis Knocke reported today that a new study by noted MD Anderson researcher Doctor Robert Newman, the lead research scientist in a number of important studies on oleander and oleander compounds, has recently finished a new study due to be published soon in peer reviewed journal which indicates that oleander induces and increases autophagy, a natural body defensive mechanism against cancer which encapsulates tumors and cancer cells.

The new study appears to provide an important new piece of evidence in understanding why oleander has proven to be successful against many forms of cancer. In previous studies on oleander, many of which were also led by Dr. Newman, oleander extracts have been shown to 1) inhibit angiogenesis, the process where cancer produces blood vessels and spreads, 2) inhibit the NF-kB factor in cancer cells, which is the process that cells use to protect themselves when they come under attack, 3) induce apoptosis, or normal cell death, in cancer cells, and 4) greatly stimulate immune activity.

Phoenix Biotech is the manufacturer of the patented oleander medication Anvirzel, which has passed FDA phase I toxicity trials and has been used successfully outside the United States for many years, including the Salud Integral Clinic in Honduras, which Phoenix Biotech owns.

http://www.tbyil.com/autophagy.htm