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Noni Juice
Inhibition of angiogenic initiation and disruption of newly established human vascular networks by juice from Morinda citrifolia (noni).
Hornick CA, Myers A, Sadowska-Krowicka H, Anthony CT, Woltering EA.
Department of Physiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. chorni@lsuhsc.edu
Noni, the juice of the fruit from the Morinda citrifolia plant, has been used for centuries as a medicinal agent. We tested the effects of noni juice in a three-dimensional fibrin clot matrix model using human placental vein and human breast tumor explants as sources for angiogenic vessel development. Noni in concentrations of 5% (vol/vol) or greater was highly effective in inhibiting the initiation of new vessel sprouts from placental vein explants, compared with initiation in control explants in media supplemented with an equivalent amount of saline. These concentrations of noni were also effective in reducing the growth rate and proliferation of newly developing capillary sprouts. When used at a concentration of 10% in growth media, noni was able to induce vessel degeneration and apoptosis in wells with established capillary networks within a few days of its application. We also found that 10% noni juice in media was an effective inhibitor of capillary initiation in explants from human breast tumors. In tumor explants which did show capillary sprouting, the vessels rapidly degenerated (2-3 days) in those exposed to media supplemented with 10% noni.
Antitumour potential of a polysaccharide-rich substance from the fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia (Noni) on sarcoma 180 ascites tumour in mice.
Furusawa E, Hirazumi A, Story S, Jensen J.
Department of Pharmacology, John Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
An immunomodulatory polysaccharide-rich substance (Noni-ppt) from the fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia has been found to possess both prophylactic and therapeutic potentials against the immunomodulator sensitive Sarcoma 180 tumour system. The antitumour activity of Noni-ppt produced a cure rate of 25%-45% in allogeneic mice and its activity was completely abolished by the concomitant administration of specific inhibitors of macrophages (2-chloroadenosine), T cells (cyclosporine) or natural killer (NK) cells (anti-asialo GM1 antibody). Noni-ppt showed synergistic or additive beneficial effects when combined with a broad spectrum of chemotherapeutic drugs, including cisplatin, adriamycin, mitomycin-C, bleomycin, etoposide, 5- fl uorouracil, vincristine or camptothecin. It was not beneficial when combined with paclitaxel, cytosine arabinoside, or immunosuppressive anticancer drugs such as cyclophosphamide, methotrexate or 6-thioguanine. Noni-ppt also demonstrated beneficial effects when combined with the Th1 cytokine, interferon gamma, but its activity was abolished when combined with Th2 cytokines, interleukin-4 or interleukin-10, thereby suggesting that Noni-ppt induces a Th1 dominant immune status in vivo. The combination of Noni-ppt with imexon, a synthetic immunomodulator, also demonstrated beneficial effects, but not when combined with the MVE-2 copolymer, a high molecular weight immunomodulator. It was also not effective when combined with interleukin-2 or interleukin-12. Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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