During treatment of cancer, some side effects of conventional treatment may limit the ability of the patient to receive the full course of therapy. To reduce the side effects and improve the effectiveness of standard therapy, many complementary or alternative medicines (CAM) have been tried in patient with a variety of cancers. Mistletoe extracts are among commonly prescribed CAM for cancer pat...

A new, rapid, sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) method was developed to determine the content of flavonoid aglycones and phenolic acids in mistletoe berries (Viscum album L.) harvested from six different Polish host trees. Additionally, the total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) as well as an ant...

Mistletoes are aerial hemiparasitic plants which occupy patches of favorable habitat (host trees) surrounded by unfavorable habitat and may be possibly modeled as a metapopulation. A metapopulation is defined as a subdivided population that persists due to the balance between colonization and extinction in discrete habitat patches. Our aim was to evaluate the dynamics of the mistletoe Psittacan...

Various studies on Phragmanthera incana (mistletoe) did not intensify toxicity. Toxicological evaluation of Phragmanthera incana, a species of mistletoe growing on two plant hosts namely Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) and Kolanut (Cola nitida) in South-western Nigeria was carried out with the observation of Wistar rats’ haematological and serum biochemical changes for a period of thirty-day administra...

Herbal tea can be prepared by infusion or maceration at room temperature resulting in different compositions of extractable constituents, which possibly influences the mode of action or safety profile. Knowledge on this topic is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the substantial differences between infusion and maceration as recommended preparation methods for the preparation of ...

In Europe many cancer patients use complementary therapies, particularly mistletoe. Only a few controlled clinical trials have been performed with the mistletoe preparation Iscador as a complementary treatment for cancer, many of them with medium to low quality due to methodological shortcomings. Reasons for some quality concerns, particularly discontinuation of treatment and/or participation a...

The present study was carried out to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activities of polyphenols isolated from the leaves of mistletoe (Loranthus micranthus Linn.) parasitic on Hevea brasiliensis. The anti-inflammatory properties of the isolated compounds were evaluated on the basis of their ability to inhibit the production of nitric oxide (NO) and tumuor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in lipopolysacc...

Abstract Aims Host-mediated effects on hemiparasitic mistletoes were hypothesized to contribute reproductive phenological asynchrony, thus providing a longer period of food supply its mutualistic pollinators and dispersers. However, studies with empirical data interrogating this hypothesis are lacking. Methods Weekly monitoring flowering fruiting patterns generalist mistletoe Dendrophthoe penta...

Viscum album (Mistletoe) is one of the most widely used alternative cancer therapies. Aqueous mistletoe extracts (MT) contain the three mistletoe lectins I, II and III as one predominant group of biologically active agents. Although MT is widely used, there is a lack of scientifically sound preclinical and clinical data. In this paper, we describe for the first time the in vivo efficacy and mec...

Arceuthobium (dwarf mistletoes) are hemiparasites that may cause great damage to infected trees belonging to Pinaceae and Cupressaceae. Currently, dwarf mistletoe control involves the use of the ethylene-producing product ethephon (ETH), which acts by inducing dwarf mistletoe shoot abscission. However, the process by which ETH functions is mostly unknown. Therefore, the transcriptome of the ETH...