BACKGROUND
Around 420 species of Aloe are inventoried worldwide, but the most popular and widely used is
Aloe Barbadensis Miller (also called
Aloe Vera Linne, commonly referred to as
Aloe Vera).
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2 For many years, Aloe is known to have many therapeutic properties which include; anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, skin protection, wound healing, and regulation of blood glucose and cholesterol.
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Several studies have illustrated the role of Aloe in cancer prevention and treatment, around 75 active compounds could potentially be of therapeutic value in cancer treatment.
4 Even though Aloe or its compounds is known play anti-cancer activities in many cancer types in vitro, few studies have reported this evidence. Furthermore, many in vitro studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the whole Aloe or its compounds in inhibiting the proliferation or growth of tumours.
Whole Aloe could have an inherent anti-tumour activity because of its many compounds and could be involved in the disrupting of tumour growth and progression signalling pathways. This mechanism of action could invariably inhibit the growth of cancer cells and lead to good prognosis. However, there are some controversies about toxicities of Aloe given the recent review which reported the side effects of Aloe especially for
Aloe Vera on neoplastic and non-neoplastic cells.
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Many acquired capabilities are necessary for tumour growth and progression, namely; Evading growth suppressor, Avoiding immune destruction, enabling replicative immortality, tumour promoting inflammation, activating invasion and metastasis, inducing angiogenesis, genome instability and mutation, resisting cell death, deregulating cellular energetics and sustaining proliferating signalling.
5 In its anti-cancer activities, the aloe could act on one or more of these capabilities for tumour growth and progression.
Therefore, this narrative literature review aimed to present the effectiveness of Aloe or its compounds on cancers taking into account the acquired capabilities of Cancer.