Foxglove can prevent Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a malignant disease killers in the world. Now the disease can be stopped through a poisonous plant called Foxglove.

Foxglove is one of the first plants to be used for the development of pharmaceutical drugs. Plants with typical bell-shaped flowers can be used to stop the spread of breast cancer.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States, found that Foxglove flowers can dramatically slow the migration of malignant cancer cells to other parts of the body. Chemicals found in such interest may block the production of HIF-1 protein, a protein controlling gene that allows cancer cells to survive in low oxygen environments, such as deep within a solid tumor.

Giant drug companies like GlaxoSmithKline convert the chemical into a tablet called Digoxin. It has been used for decades to treat medical conditions such as congestive heart failure and irregular heartbeat.

"It's really exciting," said lead investigator of the Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Gregg Semenza. "Our findings warrant clinical trials to determine whether the dose was sufficient to block HIF-1 protein production and slow the growth and spread of breast cancer."

Foxglove flowers famous for toxic but also very useful since the 1780s. Traditional herbal remedies made from plants deal of heart failure.

Physician William Withering see remarkable improvement in patients who have congestive heart failure after using these herbs. 200 years ago, Dr. Withering documented the findings of the active ingredient of Foxglove flowers in a book titled "An account of the Foxglove and some of its medical uses".

Besides can be used in the fight against breast cancer, the chemicals of interest are also able to treat prostate cancer. Scientists from Johns Hopkins University conducted a study involving 47 thousand men in April. The result, a correspondent suggests that the drug was able to stop the growth of prostate cancer in one of four men.

But researchers warn if it has not provided evidence that digoxin is responsible for these benefits. Researchers also warn that these drugs can have side effects such as nausea, headache and breast enlargement in men when given to healthy people to prevent tumors.