According to a report published by Oncology Reports, a fermented extract of the Noni fruit ,which is commonly found in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, could help the immune system attack cancer cells, and may provide long-term cancer protection. The Noni fruit, scientifically known as Morinda citrifolia, has been used in Polynesian folk medicine for more than 2,000 years.
The Noni Fruit. Photo from Flickr.
The report, published by lead author Yanzhang Wei, PhD, Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Clemson University, and Assistant Director of the Clemson University Biomedical Institute, mentioned that fermented Noni may contain some bacterial and/or fungal materials, which may have the potential to engage the innate immune system through toll-like receptors (TLRs). The innate immune system is the body’s first line of defense against infection, and toll-like receptors are important proteins that help trigger this immune response.
Dr. Wei and his colleagues evaluated the use of a fermented liquid extract from the Noni fruit (fermented Noni exudate, or fNE) to prevent and treat cancer.
For the prevention study, female mice were injected with one of three substances: fNE, a phosphate-balanced solution (PBS, which is similar to saline solution), or lipopolysaccharides (LPS, a natural toxin found in bacteria and in fermented Noni juice) for three days. Then the researchers injected the mice with lung cancer and sarcoma cells. Meanwhile for the treatment study, the mice were first injected with the cancer cells, and then treated with three doses of fNE, LPS, or PBS.
The results of the prevention study was that after the mice were injected with fNE, they developed greater numbers of immune cells such as granulocytes (a type of white blood cell) and natural killer (NK) cells, indicating that fNE had stimulated their immune system.
In the treatment study, a month after receiving fNE for sarcoma treatment or prevention, more than 85 percent of the mice were not only alive, but also cancer-free. For lung cancer tumor cells, fNE also was effective, although the tumor prevention rate was slightly lower (62 percent). Meanwhile, all of the mice that received PBS or LPS died.
The study also showed that fNE not only warded off cancer immediately—it also provided long-term protection. When the mice that had received fNE were injected with sarcoma tumor cells a second time, 15 out of 16 of them rejected the tumors.
Similar experiments were conducted with nude mice (a laboratory mouse from a strain with a genetic mutation that causes a deteriorated or absent thymus gland, resulting in an inhibited immune system due to a greatly reduced number of T cells) and beige mice (strain of mice that are immune deficient). All of the nude mice eventually died, but fNE was able to prolong their lives. The beige mice died within 20 days of receiving the cancer cells, which the authors say was because they lacked functional NK cells. These cells of the innate immune system were responsible for the majority of the response to fNE treatment.
“These results indicate that the activation of the first line of defense of the innate immune system is absolutely necessary to kill the tumor cells,” the authors write. However, the innate immune system alone is not enough to wipe out tumors. It must work in conjunction with the adaptive immune system—the part of the immune system that protects against re-exposure to the same harmful substances. fNE appears to activate both aspects of the immune system to destroy cancers.
Future studies will help researchers gain a better understanding of how fNE stimulates the immune system, and determine whether it might be effective against other types of cancers. For now, the fruit extract shows great promise as a cancer-fighting agent. “I feel positive that fNE or its derivatives will provide useful new options for cancer, especially for cancer prevention,” Dr. Wei says.
