Abstract

A REVIEW ON ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF MISTLETOE, LORANTHUS FERRUGINEUS

Emily James*, Maria Sabu, Rosmitha M. Roy and Sheryl Susan Mathew

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants represent a great deal of the world’s untapped reservoir of drugs. One of the various families of herbs that has long been used as traditional medicine worldwide is “Loranthaceae”. The members of Loranthaceae are about 75 genera and most of them are globally known as mistletoe. Historically, the name mistletoe is believed to be derived from the celtic word “all heal”. “Loranthus ferrugineus” is a member of Loranthaceae family. They parasitize a wide range of trees, namely, apple, almond, mango, plum, etc. Various chemical and pharmacological studies of L. ferrugineus have identified different kinds of constituents, like flavonoids, alkaloids, lectins, polypeptides, arginine, histamine, polysaccharides, tannins, terpenoids, steroids, acidic compounds, glycosides, gallic acid etc. and the recently discovered, new flavocoumarin named “Loranthin”. Anticancer effects of L. ferrugieneus is postulated to be inhibition of protein synthesis at ribosomal level. Properties of the A chain as well as B chain contribute to the cytotoxic activity of lectins. A combination of selectively cytotoxic and immunopotentiating properties of mistletoe lectins and their chains are decisive for the myriad therapeutic effects of mistletoe preparations. Conclusion: The in vitro, in vivo, and clinical types of evidence are available about anticancer efficacy of mistletoe in breast cancer. Currently, mistletoe, especially V. album formulation has attracted special interest due to its vital role as a leading remedy in cancer therapy. Traditional use of L. ferrugineus is more common but there is little progress in the development of its formulations. The targeted drug delivery of mistletoe in anticancer therapy has great scope in the development of new therapeutic agents. With newly found activities of mistletoe, and its wide acceptance it will make a great part in the medical field in future.

Keywords: Mistletoe, Cytotoxic, Lectins, Formulations, Therapeutics.