The next big cancer treatment may be one derived from the blushwood berry, found only in a small region within the rainforests of Australia’s northern tip called the Atherton Tablelands. The fruit contains compounds that began killing off cancer cells and destroying cancerous tumors almost immediately after application during a study conducted by the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Queensland, Australia.
The drug, called EBC-46, is produced by extracting a compound from the blushwood berry. Single injections directly into melanoma lesions and into cancers of the head, neck and colon in animals, destroyed tumors long term in more than 70% of cases, according to the study’s lead author, Dr Glen Boyle, said.
“In preclinical trials we injected it into our models and within five minutes, you see a purpling of the area that looks like a bruise,” said Dr Boyle.
“About 24 hours later, the tumor area goes black, a couple of days later you see a scab, and at around the 1.5 week mark, the scab falls off, leaving clean skin with no tumor there. The speed certainly surprised me.”
Researchers believe the drug triggers a cellular response which cuts off the blood supply to the tumor by opening it up. That’s why we see a bruise-like situation forming in the tumor,” Boyle said. “This seems to lead to an activation of the body’s own immune system which then comes in and cleans up the mess.”
The trial was conducted by veterinarians on about 300 various animals with cancer, including dogs, cats and horses. There was no evidence that EBC-46 would be effective against metastatic cancers which have spread within the body.
A woman is interviewed here, who had a persistent melanoma and was looking at having her arm amputated. She describes how when the EBC-46 was injected into the lesion, it reacted by turning a dark color, then falling off. The blushwood berry extract is thought to cut off the oxygen supply to cancer cells, causing their removal without the need for surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Under the microscope, the individual cancer cells began shriveling up and dying within moments of coming into contact with EBC-46.
