A literature survey revealed that the semi-parasitic evergreen shrub Viscum album subsp. album (Viscaceae) has been recorded on 53 taxa of deciduous trees and shrubs (including five hybrids) in the Czech Republic,. Of the host taxa, 26 are native and 27 alien to the Czech flora. The range of hosts covers 13 families. Salicaceae (11 taxa), Rosaceae (11) and Aceraceae (7) are most represented amo...

AIM: The present study aims to investigate for the first time antitumor and antibacterial activities of Viscum album L. grown on different host trees. METHODS: Two different bioassays (antitumor and antibacterial) were performed to evaluate the biological activities of European mistletoe (Viscum album L.) plants collected from 13 different host trees (Crataegus tanacetifolia, Crataegus monogyna...

Background. Breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy often experience a loss of quality of life. Moreover chemotherapy may induce neutropenia. Patients report a better quality of life when additionally treated with mistletoe products during chemotherapy. Methods. In this prospective randomized open-label pilot study 95 patients were randomized into three groups. All patients were ...

In a retrospective study we analysed the survival times of all breast cancer patients treated with mistletoe extract in the Oncology Outpatient Department of the Herdecke Communal Hospital during the period from 1981 to 2000. The survival data for our patients were compared with those for other similar patient populations (tumour registries). The comparatively favourable results from the presen...

This study investigates the inhibitory effects of Korean mistletoe extract (KME) on adipogenic factors in 3T3-L1 cells and obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in mice fed a high-fat diet. Male C57Bl/6 mice fed a high-fat diet were treated with KME (3 g/kg/day) for 15 weeks for the antiobesity and NAFLD experiments. Body weight and daily food intake were measured regularly durin...

BACKGROUND Studies reveal that patients with cancer are actively seeking supportive treatments and may use distinct coping strategies that might be helpful to extend survival time. In this respect, retrolective studies have been applied to examine the therapeutic potential of adjuvant mistletoe treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS The databases PubMed, EMBASE, AMED, and CAMbase were used to identi...

Additional therapy with extracts of Viscum album [L.] (VaL) increases the quality of life of patients suffering from early stage breast cancer during chemotherapy. In the current study patients received chemotherapy, consisting of six cycles of cyclophosphamide, anthracycline, and 5-Fluoro-Uracil (CAF). Two groups also received one of two VaL extracts differing in their preparation as subcutane...

A retrospective study looked at the survival times of all patients with colorectal cancer who were treated with mistletoe extracts at the Outpatient Oncology Clinic of Herdecke Communal Hospital between 1981 and 2001. The data were compared to corresponding patient data from the Saarland Epidemiological Cancer Registry for the same period. The median survival time of the patients treated with m...

OBJECTIVE Various immunological effects have been reported during application of mistletoe preparations. Because these data are heterogeneous, we performed a placebo controlled study to investigate (1) effects on peripheral granulocyte and eosinophil counts, (2) related cytokine levels and (3) whether effects are related to mistletoe lectin (ML). METHODS 43 volunteers were randomized to recei...