Organic Fagonia Cretica / Dhanvyaas - A Brief Introduction

Details of Research Paper have been documented here in the below section which clearly states - "People suffering from Cancer have been blessed with a very important and economical Medicinal Herb (Dhanvyaas)- which helps in permanent curing without any side-effects. Also reduces chances of re-occurrence. "

Main Chemical Constituents found inside this herb which helps in healing of Cancerous Cells are - Ceryl alcohol, Chinovic acid, Harmine, Alanine, Arginine, Glycine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Phenylalanine,Oleanolic acid, Campesterol, Stigmasterol

The Internets are full of a story about herbal tea curing cancer. An extract commonly found in herbal tea can stop the spread of cancer, researchers have found.

For a start, unless you are in or near India or Pakistan, the extract is not a commonly found in herbal tea. But that is not the main problem. The paper (free, in PLoS One), has the much less alluring headline - An Aqueous Extract of Fagonia (cretica) indica Induces DNA Damage, Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis in Cancer Cells via FOXO3a and p53 Expression.

The original university press release (although even it did not link to the actual research) was more restrained, It has been traditionally used to treat women in rural Asia who have cancer, but up until now this treatment has been regarded as something of a folklore remedy. Now, scientists at Aston University in Birmingham and Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley have undertaken tests of the plant extract and proved that it kills cancer cells without damage to normal cells and included an independent comment Dr Caitlin Palframan, policy manager at Breakthrough Cancer said; Some of the most important cancer-fighting drugs are originally derived from plants.

In India, this particular Herbal Tea is currently being used in majority of Ayurveda Cancer Hospitals and the rate of success is quite good. This herb allays the side-effects of Chemotherapy and also helps in the dis-integration of Cancer cells.

A recent study indicates as such - "Research by scientists at Aston University, Birmingham, and Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, suggests it contains potent anti-cancer agents that act singly or in combination against the proliferation of cancer cells. Laboratory tests showed they arrested the growth of cells within five hours of application and caused them to die within 24 hours."

Fagonia (cretica) indica Tea is being used in the prevention aspect also. Among the Rural and Folk Population of asian countries, women drink this particular Tea and to an extent, they have succeeded in staying healthy through lifetime. In India, only urban women are susceptible to Cancer and are suffering from this disease as rural folk women usually drink this tea when they attain an age of 30 for a period of 3 months in every year and keep on doing this till they attain an age of 60.

What they say - "Fagonia (cretica) indica tea not only starts attacking the cancerous cells within a time span of 24 to 48 hours of intake but also they attack those cells which have the potency to convert into a cancerous one and the immunity of normal cells are raised". This way poor and folk population of rural Asia are keeping this disease away from their homes.

Research conducted in the Lab of Aston University too concluded that Fagonia (cretica) indica might also cure Cancer on long term usage, but on short term, it is definately seen attacking and killing cancerous cells thereby stopping the spread and enabling the remission of Cancer.

Folk women of Asian countries too have been drinking this Tea since past 30 to 40 odd years to avoid the incidences of Cancer and those living with it are able to lead a very long and healthy life. Plus, this Tea is also found to be very effective against the side-effects of chemotherapy as reported in the research.

Following is the feedback

• Pain started reducing within first 48 hours of intake of the medicine
• Size of Tumour shrunk to 30 % to 40 % within first month of the Medicine
• There was a feeling of good energy level in the body ever since the Tea was started
• Anorexia / Nausea were down to a very minimal level
• Hair Fall in the cases of Chemo were reported very less
• Blood Cell count in the cases of Chemo were also good in number
• The Fagonia Tea plays a major role in preventing the re-occurrence of Cancer once the patient has been operated for mastectomy and undergone the sessions of chemo.

Background

Plants have proved to be an important source of anti-cancer drugs. Here we have investigated the cytotoxic action of an aqueous extract of Fagonia (cretica) indica , used widely as a herbal tea-based treatment for cancer.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Using flow cytometric analysis of cells labeled with cyclin A, annexin V and propidium iodide, we describe a time and dose-dependent arrest of the cell cycle in G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle and apoptosis following extract treatment in MCF-7 (WT-p53) and MDA-MB-231 (mutant-p53) human cancer cell lines with a markedly reduced effect on primary human mammary epithelial cells. Analysis of p53 protein expression and of its downstream transcription targets, p21 and BAX, revealed a p53 associated growth arrest within 5 hours of extract treatment and apoptosis within 24 hours. DNA double strand breaks measured as γ-H2AX were detected early in both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. However, loss of cell viability was only partly due to a p53-driven response; as MDA-MB-231 and p53-knockdown MCF-7 cells both underwent cell cycle arrest and death following extract treatment. p53-independent growth arrest and cytotoxicity following DNA damage has been previously ascribed to FOXO3a expression. Here, in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, FOXO3a expression was increased significantly within 3 hours of extract treatment and FOXO3 siRNA reduced the extract-induced loss of cell viability in both cell lines.

Conclusions/Significance

Our results demonstrate for the first time that an aqueous extract of Fagonia (cretica) indica can induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via p53-dependent and independent mechanisms, with activation of the DNA damage response. We also show that FOXO3a is required for activity in the absence of p53. Our findings indicate that Fagonia (cretica) indica aqueous extract contains potential anti-cancer agents acting either singly or in combination against cancer cell proliferation via DNA damage-induced FOXO3a and p53 expression.