A long time ago, people thought Aloe Vera had many healing abilities, like fighting germs, viruses, cancer, and helping with skin problems. But it might also have some bad effects. This review talks about what we now know about how Aloe Vera can help stop cancer from growing and spreading.
Aloe Vera is a type of plant, and there are many different kinds of Aloe plants. The most famous one is Aloe Barbadensis Miller, which we call Aloe Vera. People have known for a long time that Aloe has a lot of good effects, like killing germs, helping with cancer, reducing inflammation, and more.
Some studies have shown that Aloe might be useful for preventing and treating cancer. It has about 75 different substances that could be helpful in cancer treatment. Although Aloe and its parts have been tested in labs to slow down or stop the growth of tumors, not many studies have been done on real people or animals. Some people worry that Aloe could be harmful, especially Aloe Vera, because a recent study found it might not be safe for cancer and non-cancer cells.
Cancer needs some special abilities to grow and spread in the body. Aloe might stop cancer by affecting one or more of these abilities.
This review looks at how Aloe or its compounds can help with different kinds of cancer while taking these cancer abilities into account.
How This research Found the Information:
We searched for studies on Aloe and cancer in places like PubMed and Google Scholar. We looked for studies that talked about Aloe and cancer, how it affects tumor suppressors, its effects on cancer cells, and other related topics. We also checked the references in those studies to find more.
What Aloe Does to Cancer:
- Stopping Cancer Growth: Aloe Vera was found to slow down the growth of tumors in rats with liver cancer. Another type of Aloe called cape aloe also stopped the growth of tumor cells in a lab study.
- Killing Cancer Cells: Aloe contains a substance called Aloin, which can harm cancer cells, especially in breast cancer.
- Preventing Cancer Cells from Growing: Aloe extracts can prevent cancer cells from multiplying. This effect was stronger in some types of cancer cells compared to others.
- Inducing Cell Death (Apoptosis): Aloe can make cancer cells die on their own. This happened in various cancer types, including colon, oral, gastric, and lung cancer cells.
- Other Effects on Cancer Cells: Aloe compounds can also slow down the growth of cancer in other ways, like in the case of Merkel Cells Carcinoma and neuroectodermal tumors.
In conclusion, Aloe, especially its compounds, seems to work against many types of cancer, including breast cancer, lung cancer, and many more. It might interfere with the signals that make cancer grow. This information suggests that Aloe could be a useful part of cancer treatment in the future. However, there haven’t been many studies on Aloe’s effect on cancer at the molecular level, like how it affects inflammation or regulates glucose in cancer cells. And most of the studies have focused on Aloe Vera, even though there are many types of Aloe. So, more research is needed to better understand how Aloe can fight cancer and to make it into a safe and effective treatment.
