Chaparral leaf is used for skin cancer, moles, warts, athlete's foot, candida, eczema, tumors, skin cleanser, skin tags, rash, skin diseases, keratosis, herpes, scabies, arthritic pains, protects the skin from harmful UV rays, sun cancer, sun poison and other skin cell damage.
Chaparral has potent and long-lasting anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects in the treatment of arthritis. Chaparral herb should only be externally. Applied to the skin, chaparral can have a remarkable healing effect on eczema, herpes, cold sores, psoriasis, and contact dermatitis.
Chaparral is known as a blood cleanser, an antioxidant, antiviral and antibiotic agent, and is used for infections, skin problems, and auto-immune diseases such as arthritis. It is currently under research as a chemotherapeutic agent for cancer, and shows promise. The action of the components in the plant may slow tumor growth by inhibiting aerobic combustion in mitochondria. Because of the bacteriostatic action of creosote bush, and its antioxidant properties, the salve applied externally is beneficial for wounds and skin irritations.
Benefits of Neem. A deep cleansing, anti-septic, anti bacterial skin soap which is used for acne, scabies, psoriasis, ringworm, neem helps in preventing infections and ulcers and many other viral and bacterial skin problems.
Turmeric. Curcumin has been reported to be used in the form of a skin ointment for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma. Curcumin in the form can be a very effective form of delivering the component into the skin. Since, curcumin is hydrophobic in nature and does not easily dissolve in water; it is systematically eliminated from the elementary canal. In other words, only a few percentage of curcumin is absorbed into the blood while the rest is excreted out. Thus, applying it in the form of a cream solves this problem. Curcumin has also been used for wound healing and studies have showed positive results when turmeric is applied in the form of a paste on the skin cancer .
It has been reported in a study that curcumin is also involved in the induction of a process known as autophagy of the cancer cells. Autophagy is another name for nonapoptotic programmed cell death. This process follows a different pathway and mechanism from the regular apoptosis process. In autophagy the unnecessary and the dysfunctional components of the cell are degraded through the action of enzymes called the lysozymes. In other word, the damaged cell organelles, proteins and membranes of the cell are degraded by the lysozyme enzyme. Curcumin induced the autphagal cell death in the cancerous cells of the skin; this triggered the formation of autophagicvacuoles which led to death of the cells.
Turmeric for Skin Cancer
Turmeric is the spice which is most commonly used in India for both its color and flavor in curries. This spice belongs to the ginger family and its roots have been known to have numerous medicinal benefits. The plant, Curcuma longa or turmeric has been part of the Indian Ayurveda for a long time and has been utilized for multiple uses. These included use of turmeric as a coloring agent, medicine for cleansing the body, food preservative, as a spice in food items. Turmeric contains 2-5% curcumin as one of the most important component in it.
The flavonoid, Curcumin has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancerous properties. Curcumin plays an important role in slowing down skin cancer which occurs due to over exposure to ultraviolet rays in the sunlight. In addition to this, curcumin can also put off skin cancer which occurs due to chemicals . The skin cancer can at times result due to inflammation; the anti-inflammatory property has been one of the main reasons for the increased interest of the scientist in the spice as a potential treatment for cancer. It has been observed that the cancer of colon, lung, prostate and breast are the most common around the world. However, the incidence of these cancers is 10 times lower in India. This is due to the regular consumption of the spice, turmeric, in the staple Indian food.
It has been reported in studies that application of ointments containing curcumin relieved the people from itching and odor caused by skin cancers. Curcumin also slowed down the progress of the skin cancer . The unique structure of curcumin made it possible for it to inhibit various types of kinases like protein kinase C (PKC) which are involved in the growth of the cancerous cells . A research study showed that melanoma cells on treatment with curcumin were not able to thrive and eventually reached the apoptosis stage of cell death. Curcumin was able to hinder the viability of the cell and trigger cell death. The spice was able to inhibit the production of numerous proteins which protected the cancerous cells from cell death.
Melanoma, the most deadly of all types of skin cancer, can be treated with the usage of curcumin. It has been reported that curcumin was able to hinder the growth of these cancerous cell and have no effect on the normal cells. In most cases, melanoma can become resistant to chemotherapy and in such cases turmeric offers treatment. Curcumin was able to trigger the cleanup of cellular components which had become dysfunctional . Curcumin is also known as an excellent chemo preventive agent and provides protection to the skin by eliminating all the free radicals and also reduces the inflammation through inhibition of factors involved in tumor formation. In addition to this, it also provides protection against various types of oxidative stress. This is done by triggering phase II detoxification enzymes which play a vital role in detoxification reactions.
Curcumin is able to inhibit a factor known as the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB). This factor is involved in causing abnormal inflammation in the skin cancer. Curcumin also inhibited the activity of the protein IKK which turns on the NF-kB factor. On inactivation of both this factor and protein the skin cancer cells stop the process of cell repair. Consequently, the basal cell carcinoma cell dies and dries and falls off.
Curcumin also inhibits STAT3 pathway which is an important pathway for tumor genesis and is responsible for survival of the cell and its proliferation. It also down regulates the activity of both EGFR and VEGF. EGFR is involved in tumor cell proliferation while VEGF is involved in angiogenesis or formation of new blood vessel. Since multiple pathways are involved in the formation of tumors, inhibiting one pathway will not stop the overall growth of these cancerous cells. Thus, an agent is required which can target most of these pathways and suppress them. Curcumin fits this requirement perfectly as it is able to target multiple pathways involved in carcinomas.
Another study carried out by Zheng et al. it has been reported that curcumin scavenged nitric oxide and acted as an inhibitor of the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). These are required for the survival of the cancerous cells and anti-apoptotic (prevention of cell death) function. The study showed that curcumin was able to induce apoptosis in the melanoma cells and arrest this cell in the G2/M phase of the mitotic cell cycle. Curcumin was able to affect these pathways involved in the cell cycle which is important for the survival of the melanoma cells. This, in turn, inhibits the activation of NF-kB factor which leads to depletion of endogenous nitric oxide.
Curcumin also acts as an antioxidant thus; it can play a vital role in preventing cancers as well. And it has been observed by scientists that people who take plenty of turmeric in their diet have lower chances of getting cancer . In another study carried out on the skin cells of mouse, it was observed that curcumin was able to inhibit the lipid peroxidation and metabolism of arachidonic acid . Curcumin has been reported to have an effective treatment for both basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.
Curcumin has been reported to be used in the form of a skin ointment for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma. Curcumin in the form can be a very effective form of delivering the component into the skin. Since, curcumin is hydrophobic in nature and does not easily dissolve in water; it is systematically eliminated from the elementary canal. In other words, only a few percentage of curcumin is absorbed into the blood while the rest is excreted out. Thus, applying it in the form of a cream solves this problem. Curcumin has also been used for wound healing and studies have showed positive results when turmeric is applied in the form of a paste on the skin cancer .
It has been reported in a study that curcumin is also involved in the induction of a process known as autophagy of the cancer cells. Autophagy is another name for nonapoptotic programmed cell death. This process follows a different pathway and mechanism from the regular apoptosis process. In autophagy the unnecessary and the dysfunctional components of the cell are degraded through the action of enzymes called the lysozymes. In other word, the damaged cell organelles, proteins and membranes of the cell are degraded by the lysozyme enzyme. Curcumin induced the autphagal cell death in the cancerous cells of the skin; this triggered the formation of autophagic vacuoles which led to death of the cells.
In a study carried out on the melanoma cells using mice models by Pal et al. it was reported that curcumin was able to induce cell death in the skin tumor. Curcumin upregulated the oncoprotein known as Bax, which released cytochrome c from the mitochondria of the cell, leading to the activation of capase 3. Another interesting observation reported by the authors is that development of tumor led to the suppression of the immune system of the host in the mice which were not treated with curcumin. However, when these mice were treated with curcumin, the splenic number had been revived and reached the same amount as the normal uninfected mice. This showed that curcumin was able to restore the immune depletion caused by the tumor. These results show that curcumin plays a significant role in the immunotherapy of the cancer cells.
Curcumin has also been known to promote the deposition of collagen and help in healing of the skin wounds. In a study done by Huang et al, curcumin was found to stop the expression of 12-O- tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced skin cancers in mice models. It also modified and down regulated the arachadonic acid metabolism, which is involved in inflammation of the skin, in the skin of these mice.
