Noni (Morinda Citrifolia):
Scientific Studies & News
NOTE: article links below take you to the National Library of Medicine web site. These will open in a new window.
An immunomodulatory polysaccharide-rich substance from the fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia (noni) with antitumour activity.
Hirazumi,
E. Furusawa, Phytother Res. 1999 Aug;13(5):380-7.
The fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia (noni) contains a polysaccharide-rich
substance (noni-ppt) with antitumour activity in the Lewis lung (LLC)
peritoneal carcinomatosis model. Therapeutic administration of noni-ppt
significantly enhanced the duration of survival of inbred syngeneic LLC
tumour bearing mice. It did not exert significant cytotoxic effects in
an adapted culture of LLC cells, LLC1, but could activate peritoneal exudate
cells (PEC) to impart profound toxicity when co-cultured with the tumour
cells. This suggested the possibility that noni-ppt may suppress tumour
growth through activation of the host immune system. Concomitant treatment
with the immunosuppressive agent, 2-chloroadenosine (C1-Ade) or cyclosporin
(cys-A) diminished its activity, thereby substantiating an immunomodulatory
mechanism. Noni-ppt was also capable of stimulating the release of several
mediators from murine effector cells, including tumour necrosis factor-alpha
(TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-10, IL-12 p70, interferon-gamma
(IFN-gamma) and nitric oxide (NO), but had no effect on IL-2 and suppressed
IL-4 release. Improved survival time and curative effects occurred when
noni-ppt was combined with sub-optimal doses of the standard chemotherapeutic
agents, adriamycin (Adria), cisplatin (CDDP), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and
vincristine (VCR), suggesting important clinical applications of noni-ppt
as a supplemental agent in cancer treatment.
Anti Cancer Activity of Morinda Citrifolia on Intraperitoneally Implanted Lewis Lung Carcinoma in Syngenic Mice A.
Hirazumi, E. Furusawa, S.C. Chou & Y. Hokama Proc. West. Pharmacol. Soc. 37: 145-146 (1994)
This is a very significant study by a team of researchers from the University of Hawaii led by Annie Hirazumi. Ms. Hirazumi became interested in the study of the Noni fruit because of earlier experiences with its amazing qualities. Her father helped a good friend with the juice of the Noni, and later, Annie administered the pure Noni juice to a pet dog who was dying. The dog recovered miraculously, and Annie set out to find out more about this incredible fruit. The study by Ms. Hirazumi and her colleagues was conducted on live laboratory mice (specifically C57BL/6 mice) specifically identified as very receptive to injected Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells. The mice were injected with active Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells (LLC). Untreated, the mice died from 9-12 days after injection from the tumor growth. A portion of the injected mice were treated with Noni juice in five separate daily treatments. The Noni juice was shown to significantly increase the life span of the treated mice (from 105% 123%) with 9 of the 22 mice surviving for more than 50 days. The experiment was repeated on a different lot of mice with similar results. The Research Team concluded that the Noni juice: seems to act indirectly by enhancing host immune system involving macrophages and/or lymphocytes.
Induction of Normal Phenotypes in RAS transformed cells by Damnacanthal from Morinda Citrifolia.
T. Hiramatsu, M. Imoto, T Koyano, K. Umezawa Cancer Letters 73 (1993) 161-166
In this study, a team of Japanese researchers studied the effect of over 500 extracts from tropical plants on the K-ras-NRK cell (a pre cursor to certain types of cancer). The compound, damnacanthal, found in the Morinda Citrifolia (Noni), was found to be an inhibitor of Ras function. The research: Ras cells were seeded into 96 plates and incubated at 33 degrees centigrade for 24 hours. The Noni plant extract was added and the cell morphology was examined every day for five days.
The Ras function was inhibited by the injected plant extract. This same compound has been found to inhibit the Epstein-Barr virus early-antigen activation. The extract from the Morinda Citrifolia was found to be most effective in inhibiting Ras function among the 500 tested extracts.
Analgesic and Behavioral Effects of Morinda Citrifolia
C. Younos, A. Rolland, J. Fleurentin, M. Lanhers, R. Misslin, F. Mortier Planta Medica 56 (1990) 430-434
In this study, the team lead by French scientist Chafique Younos, tested the analgesic and sedative effects of extracts from the Morinda Citrifolia plant. They were aware of the traditional use of the plant as a general analgesic, and set out to determine if those claims were valid. The extract was shown to be non-toxic and did "show a significant, dose-related, central analgesic activity in the treated mice." This study included various experiments on the treated mice to determine the analgesic effect, if any, from the plant extracts of the Morinda Citrifolia (Noni). The conclusion of these researchers was that the extract did in fact demonstrate analgesic effects consistently in each experiment. The conclusion of this study included a simple statement from the authors: "These findings validate the traditional analgesic properties of this plant " The above represent only a sample of the research completed on the Morinda Citrifolia plant. The results are conclusive in each case in showing the validity of the traditional use of the Noni.
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