What is Taheebo

Ecosystem in the Amazonian tropic forest of South America is very complicated has rich vegetation. There are more than 5000 kinds of medicinal plants. Only discovered kinds to date is at least 2500. Among them, Taheebo is called ‟the grace of God‟ and taken in as medically effective tree.

‟Taheebo tea” made from Taheebo’s inner bark, has been drunken among native tribes in South America for several thousand years through the ancient Incan Emperor, Andes civilizations such as pre-Incan civilization (Chavín, Chimú and Moche) and Amazonian cultural region.

Row Wood of Taheebo

Taheebo, whose scientific name is Tabebuia avellanedae of Bignonia family, has purplish-red flowers. Most effective Taheebo tea is made only from its inner bark.

This tree grows in Amazonian jangle and it is difficult to grow in urban area. Therefore, there are few in city. Row Taheebo wood that naturally grows in Amazonian tropic forest is a tree of 30-40 m in height and 1.5-2 m in width. Trunk tissue is thick and hard, and therefore it is difficult to cut by chainsaw. As it abundantly absorbs minerals, it is too heavy to float in water. As it is deep-rooted, it won’ t fall down by squall or storm. If stump is left in a hot and humid jungle, it won’t decay. Because of its strength, toughness and amazing power, people believe that Taheebo is the grace of God.

Purple Ipe is not Taheebo

Taheebo scientifically belongs to the Tabebuia genus, Bignonia family. This type of plant is called ‟Ipe” in Brazil.

There are more than 750 kinds of Bignonia family around the world. Here in Japan, there are trumpet creeper, yellow catalpa and princess tree, and so on.

Among them, there are more than 100 kinds of Tabebuia genus in North and South America continents and they are classified into 3 classes by flower color: White Ipe (Ipe-branco), Yellow Ipe (Ipe-amarelo), and Purple Ipe (Ipe-roxo). The most effective is Ipe-roxo. There

are 4 kinds of Ipe-roxo in the Amazon basin. The followings are often confused with Taheebo.

(1) Tabebuia heptaphyla In Brazil, Ipe-roxo means Tabebuia heptaphyla. It is found throughout the country. Tree height is 16-20 m and flower is magenta. It is popular as an ornamental plant.

(2) Tabebuia impetiginosa It is found widely in east-central to southern part of the South America continent, especially in Argentina. It naturally grows in mountains. Also, as ornament, there are also many cultivated ones. It is 10-20 m in height and has lots of large flowers. Tabebuia impetiginosa is the most confused genus with Taheebo.

(3) T.impetiginosa var.paulensis It is a variety of impetiginosa and subtall tree with the height of 3-6 m. T.impetiginosa var.paulensis is distributed in coastal mountainous region around Sao Paulo and often cultivated as ornament. It has magenta flowers and is popular as garden tree.

Government of Federative Republic of Brazil adopts a policy of banning/restricting logging rare tree, including Taheebo, in order to protect forest resources.

Taheebo’s well known active component (anticancer component) is NQ801【2-(1-hydroxyethyl)-5-hydroxy naphtho [2,3-b] furan-4,9- dion】, a naprthoquinone discovered

by Shinichi Ueda PhD., former assistant professor, Medical Plant Chemical Laboratory at Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University.

Based on his over 50 years of research on medical herb in South America, Walter Radames Accorsi PhD., a former emeritus professor, University of Sao Paulo, reported that avellanadae species which naturally grows in a certain area in the Amazon basin is most effective. However, the place was not made public for fear of being destructively lumbered/robbed.

Most quality Taheebo tea is made of only 100% inner bark of this avellanadae species. It is confirmed by a lot-by-lot sampling inspection that the bark does not contain lapachol in which adverse effect was found in a trial of National Cancer Institute (NCI) reported in 1967.

In poor quality products, even sawdust or chips of mahogany or mango which resembles Taheebo are mixed in order to increase weight.

NQ801 (anticancer component)

Active component included in Tabebuia genus plant is biosynthesized through several intermediates to final product using naphthoquinone existing in woody member as a derivative.

From the Avellanedae species growing in a certain region, biosynthesis is progressed to several kinds of furno-naphthoquinon as final product, from which researcher discovered naphthoquinon with most potent anticancer activity and named it NQ801.

Regarding simply-called Purple Ipe or Ipe-roxo, naphthoquinon content varies. The crucial difference between avellanedae genus and other genus (heptaphyla, impetiginosa and var.paulensis) is whether it contains a anticancer component NQ801, or not.

As Amazonian jangle are extensive, even if genus is the same (Avellaneda genus), Tabebuia contains only small amount of NQ801, no NQ801, or quite different component, depending on region.

Taheebo’s Component

1) Basic components and vitamins

Basic components and vitamins contained in Taheebo are as follows (per 100 g)

2) Comparison of mineral composition

Basic components Vitamins

Protein 3.7g VitaminB6 6.1mg

Carbohydrate 7.5g VitaminB12 0.025mg

Fat 0.8g Nacin 0.95mg

Dietary Fiber, 74.7g Folic Acid 0.7mg

Moisture 5.1g Inositol 106.0mg

Ash 8.4g Pantothenic Acid 0.14mg

Taheebo contains variety of extremely high-concentrated minerals. (Compared with tea leaves and marine plants)

3) Heavy Metals

Taheebo contains variety of extremely high-concentrated minerals. (Compared with tea leaves and marine plants)

Symbol

Taheebo

Tealeaves

Average of overall plants including marine plant

Calcium Ca 4200 320 500

Potassium K 256 1860 300

Magnesium Mg 81.8 230 40

Phosphorus P 38.3 – 70

Iron Fe 19.1 9.8 10

Barium Ba 13.2 0.55 3

Manganese Mn 6.73 7.1 1

Sodium Na 2.7 1.89 20

Copper Cu 0.513 – 0.2

Zinc Zn 0.615 0.33 0.5

Chromium Cr 0.05 0.015 –

Nickel Ni 0.028 0.6 0.05

Vanadium V 0.01 0.037 –

4) Taheebo’s anti-cancer effect

Furno-naphthoquinone contained in Taheebo gives anticancer and various actions.

(1) NQ801 NQ801, a naphtoquinone whose chemical structural formula is 2-(1-hydroxyethyl)-5-hydroxy naphtho [2,3-b] furan-4,9-dion, is Taheebo’s most potent anti-cancer component ever discovered. This component was named NQ801 by researchers.

(2) β-lapachone β-lapachone is a naphthoquinones contained in Taheebo. Using this component, ArQule (Boston, the USA) and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Basel, Switzerland) have jointly conducted research for developing a new anti-tumor agent. According to ArQule’s report, the β-lapachone is considered to block DNA checkpoint function of cancer cell.

Taheebo’s Anti-cancer Effect

Taheebo has variety of anticancer action; directly, indirectly and supplementally.

(1) As direct actions - selective toxic action that attacks only cancer cells without damaging normal cells, apoptosis-inducing action, neovascularization inhibitory action, and metastasis infiltration inhibitory action are reported.

Taheebo contains variety of extremely high-concentrated minerals. (Compared with tea leaves and marine plants)

Symbol

Taheebo

Tealeaves

Average of overall plants including marine plant

Lead Pb 0.032 – 5

Selenium Se 0.014 0.002 1

Cadmium Cd – – –

Arsenic As – 0.001 –

Mercury Hg – 0.001 –

(2) As indirect actions - immunostimulating action which enhances body’s immune to combat cancer cells is reported.

(3) As supplemental action - anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, sedation/analgesia, diuretic actions are reported.

Taheebo improves metabolic function and enhances body’s overall QOL by increasing appetite, improving sleep or relieving pain.

1) Direct action

(1) Selective toxic action Taheebo including NQ801 selectively attacks cancer cells without affecting normal cells.

(2) Apoptosis-inducing action Body has a mechanism to repair or remove defective cells. Moreover, when repair is insufficient, body makes those cells die naturally. The natural death and suicide of cells are called “apoptosis.” When Taheebo extract containing NQ801 is administered to cancer cells, apoptosis-inducing signal is transmitted within cells, resulting in natural death and suicide of cancer cells.

(3) Neovascularization inhibitory action As cancer cells grow faster than normal cells, they require many nutrients. In order to absorb more nutrition, cancer cells form new blood vessels (neovascularization) and connect to existing blood vessels to steal nutrients. As Taheebo has a function to inhibit neovascularization of cancer cells, it starves and suffocates cancer cells by a lack of oxygen.

(4) Metastasis infiltration inhibitory action Cancer cells’ coming out from the primary layer is called infiltration. After infiltration, cancer cells move toward multiple organs throughout the body by being carried by the flow of blood or lymph, and proliferate again. The movement toward multiple organs is called metastasis. The measurement using mice lymphoma cells revealed that Taheebo extract containing NQ801 inhibits about 60% of infiltration and suppresses metastasis to multiple organs.

2) Indirect action

(5) Immunostimulating action Body has many immune cells to protect itself from viruses and pathogenic bacteria. Taheebo eliminates cancer cells by enhancing power of immune cells (immunity). It also has immune-control action which first increases immunity, and then stabilizes within the standard value.

3) Supplemental action

(6) Antioxidant action Active enzyme which is excessively produced in a body by external environment, such as air pollution and ultraviolet rays, damages genes and cells, causing cancer and lifestyle-related diseases like diabetes. Taheebo cures and prevents various diseases by detoxifying excessively produced active enzyme.

In Taheebo, paulownin, AX101 (new phenyl-propanoid component) and acteoside are also found.

(7) Sedation/analgesia action Taheebo eases and relieves pain. It is reported that Taheebo eased terrible pain of terminal cancer.

(8) Antiinflammatory action Taheebo mitigates inflammation, such as pain and swelling. AIF101 (lignin component), a antiinflamatory compound, is newly discovered.

(9) Improving QOL Thanks to Taheebo’s sweating, defecation and urination action, waste products are discharged, metabolism is activated, and body’s overall condition is improved. As a result, body maintains homeostasis and hardly become ill.

Case 1 Recurrence after surgery for cancer of the upper jaw

Name：Recurrence after surgery for cancer of the upper jaw Stage： ⅣB Age/Sex：70-year-old male

Symptoms & Progress

The patient had recurrence of cancer after the surgery and was told in the year X that he would live only for another 6 months, and all treatments were stopped. Sincethen, the patient received no anticancer treatment orradiotherapy, and volunteered to have Gerson’s diet therapy along with yoga therapy and hot spring therapy.

After that, he also had high dose vitamin C drips once or twice a week. The progression of the tumor became veryslow, and the patient visited our hospital for the first time in the year X + 3.

However, the tumor continued to advance, and the patient started taking X6 1P/day concurrently from the year X+3.

Three months from the start of the X6 treatment, MRI showed that the tumor had not increased in size form the previous observation, and thus the cessation of tumor enlargement could be confirmed for the first time through imaging.

After that, X6 was continued at the increased dose of 3P/day, and concurrently, the diet therapy and high concentration vitamin C drip once or twice a week were also continued.

After one month on X6 3P/day, MRI showed shrinkage of the tumor for the first time.

The MRI finding after two months on X6 3P/day led to the comment, “Staining of the tumor by gadolinium has clearly decreased, which suggested decreased tumor activity or decreased blood flow, intravenous injection of gadolinium was smooth, and there was no leakage of the contrast agent”.

During this period, the tumor marker ICTP increased once and then decreased sharply, whereas SCC decreased continuously.

Intraoral observations also showed that the tumor that had been advancing slowly had shrunk (Fig. 5 Top) three months after the dose of X6 was increased form 1P to 3P/day.

Conclusions from Case 3

The tumor markers ICTP and SCC decreased after the X6 treatment started and clinically also the tumor was seen to have shrunk, for the first time. After three months on X6 3P/day, the MRI showed a clear decrease in uptake of the contrast agent, which suggested lowered activity of the tumor.

The X6 3P/day treatment changed into parasympathetic dominance favorably (decreased the G/L ratio) (data not shown). Besides this, the patient showed no biochemical or clinical abnormality during the X6 treatment.

The results of this case also suggested dose dependence of the effect of NQ801 and its safety.

The patient continues to be on X6 3P/day concurrently with diet therapy and high dose vitamin C drip, and the tumor is shrinking and has reached about half its former size.

Areas for future studies

Clinical investigations of the present study have suggested that the anticancer effect of NQ801 is dose dependent, and confirmed the safety of NQ801 up to 5.4 mg/day. In the future, it is necessary to investigate the dose requirement of NQ801, when used in combination with anticancer drugs in specific cases, by using it on a larger number of patients in integrative treatment of cancer. Literature

Case 2 Both inoperable pancreatic cancer and colon cancer

Japanese　Jounal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Vol.8 No.2 2011) Yoshio TAKEDA （Takeda Internal and Gastrointestinal Clinic）

【ABSTRACT】 A 58 year-old man affected by both inoperable pancreatic cancer and colon cancer was treated withchemotherapy gemcitabine and TS1. FRx6 which contains six-fold effective ingredient NQ801, was also given simultaneously. Partial response of both pancreatic and colon cancer was obtained by chemotherapy and FRx6.

Further examination of combined therapy will be needed.

1. Introduction

“Taheebo”is hot-Water extract taken from the bark of the Tabebuia avellanedae tree of the Bignoniaceae family found in Brazil of South America and it is widely used as a folk remedy for variety diseases in Brazil. Ueda, et al, reported that naphthoquinone, a Taheebo tea extract, inhibited the activation of the initial expression of TPA -induced EB virus and it also inhibited tumor promoter activity in vitro. Its physiologically powerful and effective ingredient is 5-hydroxy-2-（1-hydroxy-ethyl)-naphtho [2, 3b] fur an-4,9-dione and its code name is NQ801. This effective ingredient is extracted from the Tabebuia avellanedae (Taheebo) trees those are native to a specific area Regression of double cancer was observed in a patient affected by both inoperable pancreatic cancer and colon cancer after Taheebo extract FRx6, in which the concentration of NQ801 was multiplied by six, was simultaneously administered with gemcitabine and TSI chemotherapy. Therefore, this case is reported.

2. Methods

A 58-year-old man was diagnosed as both inoperable Stage Ⅳb pancreatic head cancer and advanced ascending colon cancer which were double primary cancer at a certain hospital on November 10, 2008.

Treatment was started from the end of November 2008, with gemcitabine administration twice in two weeks, however, no gemcitabine was given in the following one week. Four capsules of TS1 were also given per os everyday for two weeks simultaneously, however, no TS1 was given for the following one week. This treatment was repeated every three weeks.

On November 28, 2008, CA19姐9tumor marker level was 895 µ/mL. There was an irregular low echogenic tumor in the pancreatic head, which corresponded to pancreatic cancer of 32.4×35.7 mm in size.

From December 14, 2008 to June 23, 2009, the patient obtained Taheebo extract FRx6 from a company and he took it per os.

On December 27, 2008, the CA19-9 tumor marker level was 42 µ/mL.

On January 24, 2009, the size of the pancreatic head cancer was 30.4×21.5 mm.

On February 28, 2009, the size of the pancreatic head cancer was 15.8×13.4 mm.

On March 10, 2009, the CA19-9 tumor marker level normalized to 4.9 µ/mL.

On March 28, 2009, the size of the pancreatic bead cancer was 13.5×10.5 mm.

On May 12, 2009, the CA19-9 tumor marker level was 4.4 µ/mL.

On May 30, 2009, the pancreatic cancer could not be detected in an abdominal ultrasound sonography.

In June 2009, the pancreatic head cancer was not almost seen with CT scan test either, and partial response (PR), very close to complete response (CR), was observed. The advanced colon cancer was also markedly reduced to a tiny scar lesion and it was also evaluated as PR.

3. Results

One case of a double primary cancer patient affected by both inoperable pancreatic head cancer and advanced colon cancer resulted in tumor regression as PR after FRx6 was simultaneously administered during gemcitabine and TSI chemotherapy.

4. Discussion

Taheebo extract from Tabebuia avellanedae contained the active ingredient “NQ801”and displayed direct action on cancer cells such as selective toxicity, apoptosis induction, angiogenesis inhibition, and inhibition of both metastasis and invasion potential. It also had immunostimulatory effect as indirect action. Complete regression in a patient with end stage hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis has already reported after ingestion of Taheebo tea6. According to Sudo7 et al, in a Phase II trial on advanced pancreatic cancer by using both gemcitabine and TS1 in 21 subjects resulted in PR assessment for 2 patients (9.5%), stable disease (RECIST: Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors) for 9 patients (43%), with CA19-9level decreasing at least 50% in 5 of 18 subjects.

When oxaliplatin and gemcitabine were concurrently administered to 43 colon cancer patients, one case resulted in PRS. According to Taiho Pharmaceutical, in a Phase II trial of colon cancer using TS1, while there were no CR results, 42 subjects out of 129 (32.6%) were evaluated as PR. On the other hand, it was reported that, when β-Lapachone, one substance of naphthoquinone compaound, a NQ801-like compound, was used concurrently with taxol，β-Lapachone had a synergistic anti-tumor effect and no side effects were observed in the mice themselves9.

It can be thought that the tumor regression in the double primary cancer of inoperable pancreatic cancer and advanced colon cancer experienced this time was due to effect of both the gemcitabine and TS1 mainly, however, the synergistic effect of FRx6 cannot be excluded. Moreover, the fact that the anti-tumor effect of β-Lapachone and taxol is synergistic9 suggests the possibility of a synergistic effect with chemotherapy and FRx6. NQ801 is a substance discovered by Japanese scientists and it is expected that various clinical trials will be conducted in the future.

Literature

1) Walter Radames Accorsi. Miracles of Taheebo extract. Kobe Shimbun Publishing Center. 1988; 48. 2) Ueda S, Umemura T, Dohguichi K, et al. Production of anti-tumor promoting furanonaphthoquinones in Tabebuia Avellanedae cell culture. Phytochemistry 1994; 36: 323-325. 3) Hirata S. Clinical examination of NQ801 extracted from Taheebo in integrative medicine for cancer. International journal of Integrative Medicine 2010 ; 2 (1) : 119-127. 4) Ebina T. Anti”tumor effect of hot water extract of Taheebo, Tabebuia avellanedae grown in South America. Biotherapy 1998 ;12 : 495”500. 5) Ebina T. Anti-tumor effect of hot water extract of Taheebo comparing with other biological substances. Biotherapy 2002; 61: 321-327. 6) Takeda Y, Togashi H, Shinzawa H, et al. Spontaneous regression of hepatocellular carcinoma and review of literature. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2000; 15(9): 965-966. 7) Sudo K, Yamaguchi T, Nakamura K, et al. Phase II study of S-1 in patients with gemcitabine-resistant advanced pancreatic cancer. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2011; 67 (2): 249-254. 8) Shibata S, Chow W, Frankel P, et al. A phase I study of oxaliplatin in combination with gemcitabine: correlation of clinical outcome with gene expression. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2007; 59(4):549-557. 9) Pardee AB, Li YZ, Li CJ, et al. Cancer therapy withbeta-lapachone. Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2002; 2(3): 227-242.

Article from: International Medical Society for Taheebo Research http://imstr.or.jp/en/taheebo