News: Milkweed and Skin Cancer

cloverspirit

Just sharing as I look into milkweed (petty spurge) sap or derivatives as a treatment for future basal cell carcinoma.

 

BBC: "Common weed petty spurge 'could treat' skin cancer" (2011)

"The study involved 36 of such patients who collectively had a total of 48 non-melanoma [skin cancer] lesions.

"Each was treated with the sap of the petty spurge plant, or Euphorbia peplus, which was applied to the skin once a day for three days.

"The plant sap has been used for centuries as a traditional medicine, and the researchers wanted to put it through its paces in a proper clinical trial.

"After a one month, 41 of the 48 cancers had shown a complete clinical response to the treatment, meaning no trace of the tumour could be found on clinical examination"

 

Science Daily: "Long-sought method to efficiently make complex anticancer compound developed" (2013)

"Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have achieved the first efficient chemical synthesis of ingenol, a highly complex, plant-derived compound that has long been of interest to drug developers for its anticancer potential."

 

Studies full of jargon...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Euphorbia+peplus

 

More about the plant, aka "milkwood" and "cancer weed".

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/WEEDS/petty_spurge.html

http://www.wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/S/Spurge(Petty)/Spurge(Petty).htm

 

Does anyone have more information on the use or efficacy of the sap (or the protein within it) to BCC/SCC?

Pilgrimmum

Yes I've used it and it works

Yes I've used it and it works. Had a basal skin cancer on face. Just about to treat another one.

Pilgrimmum

Yes milkweed works. Iv3 used

Yes milkweed works. Iv3 used it on basal skin cancers and it works. Just about to treat another one.

cloverspirit

Pilgrimmum said:

Yes I've used it and it works

Yes I've used it and it works. Had a basal skin cancer on face. Just about to treat another one.

Thank you for letting us know
Thank you for letting us know, Pilgrimmum!

I have a large number of suspicious spots growing now and should try the gel.

cloverspirit

Ingenol Mebutate Gel
Here's an update, kind of a summary of studies that can be found in the NCBI link, and it's more good news! Mostly.

The active ingredient in Euphorbia peplus sap is ingenol mebutate, which has been approved by the FDA in the United States of America for use as a gel on skin lesion. Treatment appears to involve applying the gel 0.05% once daily for two or three consecutive days to the surface of the BCC or SCC lesion.

In most of the test cases I've read about, the lesion disappeared with no lasting side effects.

Caution: the gel is dangerous to eyes and should also not be ingested. Injuries have been reported from accidental ingestion or exposure to eyes even after handwashing, so using a cotton swab or cotton ball to apply the gel looks to be a much safer method than using fingertips.