Aloe plant gives hope for breast cancer treatment

By GATONYE GATHURA

NAIROBI, KENYA: A close relative of the famous Aloe Vera herb, of the beauty industry, has been found to have breast cancer-killing properties.

Aloe dawei, which grows widely in arid areas, has been the subject of intense studies by researchers from the University of Nairobi and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and it has now been confirmed to be a potential cure for breast cancer.

“Out of 16 chemical compounds we tested on infected breast cancer cells in the laboratory, two were very effective in stopping the disease,” the lead researcher Abiy Yenesew told The Standard Tuesday.

Prof Yenesew said the next steps would be to test how the species may be affecting normal cells in laboratory before venturing into drug development.

“Assuming all goes well in the various steps, we would be talking about ten years from now before we can have a drug in the market. But this is a very encouraging development,” he said.

In a study published last week (March 17) in the journal Molecules, the researchers say they had extracted the compounds from sun-dried roots of the plant.

The plant is widely distributed in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. In Rwanda, the leaf extract is used to treat malaria.

“Despite its use in traditional medicine, no chemical analysis of the plant has been carried out before. This is the first recorded attempt,” said Yenesew. In the process, they managed to isolate a new compound not recorded before.

The best known variety of this plant family is the Aloe Vera because of its visibility in the beauty and hygiene product market globally.

In Kenya alone, there are over 60 species. The number rises to over 90 species when the three countries of East Africa; Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are taken into account.

According to Julius Wanjohi of the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy at the University of Nairobi, the use of such information is never really free especially if you want it for commercial use.

“You may be required to pay some loyalty or come to some agreement with the managers of such databases,” he said.