Cancerina is a herbaceous plant that is used to treat different conditions, including cancer. It is also known as aguatcui, monkey ear chilonché or rosewood. Its composition contains different chemical elements that give it its great medicinal properties. But it has been gaining relevance over time since it is also associated with cancer treatment.
What is cancerin?
The cancerina, whose scientific name is Semialarium mexicanum, is a herbaceous shrub that can measure up to five meters in height. It belongs to the Celastraceae family and is native to Central American forests, extending from Mexico to . It has light green tones and also produces fruits that look like small semi-winged capsules. The part that is used for human consumption is its bark, which is usually sold in medicinal plant markets.
Its habitat extends through dry, tropical forests and savannahs, along water inflows. It likes rather clayey and slightly stony soils. It is distributed in the Mesoamerican region, from southern Mexico to Panama. In Mexico it can be found in the states of Campeche, Durango, Quintana Roo and Yucatán. While in Costa Rica it is located in the Central Pacific, Arenal, Tempisque and Guanacaste.
It has insecticidal, anti-inflammatory, healing and purifying properties. Among its composition, we find a variety of active components that give it its medicinal properties. It contains triterpenes such as canofilol, canofilal, celastrol, excelcite, friedeline, tingenone, pristimerin and b-sitosterol. In addition to alkaloids such as emarginanine, hypocretein I, II and III, meyteine and cofilic acid.
What is cancerin used for?
Semialarum mexicanum, that is, cancerin, is generally used in the treatment of gastric ulcers, kidney problems, diarrhea and psoriasis, due to its healing and anti-inflammatory properties. Cancerin infusion helps treat bruises, wounds and bumps on the body. Whether external or internal, cancerine helps relieve symptoms thanks to its healing and anti-inflammatory properties. In the case of external wounds, it can also be used topically to soothe discomfort.
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In traditional Mexican medicine, it is used as a gastroprotective agent, for the treatment of vascular diseases and to dissolve gallstones and kidney stones. In addition, it is also used as a powerful insecticide, which is why it is used to control mites, lice and other ectoparasites. For this reason it is also known as a lice killer.
But among all its properties and uses, perhaps the most relevant one that has been gaining popularity is that it is used in the treatment of cancer. Various investigations have investigated its uses against cancer and have shown that cancerin promotes the formation of tumor cells. In addition, it stimulates the immune system to deal with different types of cancer.
Cancerin and cancer
An investigation by the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) demonstrated that the benefits of cancerin against cancer are due to the fact that it contains an anacardic acid (6 pentadecyl salicylic). This promotes the programmed death of tumor cells, without affecting normal cells. It is also capable of stimulating the immune system, which would greatly help to attack cancer cells more effectively, which is why it could be used in the treatment of different types of cancer.
Cancerin has been gaining relevance among the scientific community, precisely because it does not destroy bone marrow cells, since it is not toxic. Normally cancer treatments are based on the destruction of cancer cells. However, its compounds are so strong that they end up destroying the immune system as well, leaving the patient immunosuppressed.
Currently, the properties of cancerin and what it is for are still being explored, in addition to its possible uses as a cancer treatment.