Boswellia

(5LOX Inhibitor)

Boswellia, also known as indian frankincense, is an extract from the boswellia serrata tree. It is a family of medicinal plants grown and used in India, Africa, China, and the Middle East.

Boswellia is a known effective anti-inflammatory. The most effective forms of boswellia contains a high concentration of ABKA (Acetyl Keto β Boswellic Acid), and LOX 5-LOXIN, 5-LO, 5-LOX or 5-lipoxygenase. Boswellia has been used to treat inflammation causing illnesses for thousands of years. Structure: C₃₀H₄₈O₃

1. Classification: Anti-inflammatory - Similar to Prednisone

2. Method

5-LOX itself creates Leukotrienes that promote conditions such as cancer, asthma, atherosclerosis and other disease processes. 5-LOXIN, which blocks the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) enzyme, is a dangerous inflammatory enzyme.

3. Other Similar Drug Options

5-LOXIN is found to be safer than NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory) drugs such as ibuprofen and aspirin. While NSAIDs are good for immediate pain relief, they cannot be taken long-term. Long-term NSAIDs also inhibit the COX-enzyme, which are harmful to the stomach. Possible issues could include; stomach irritation, bleeding, kidney toxicity, or peptic ulcers.

4. Also Used For

While more studies are underway, 5-LOXIN has had some study results indicating that it is effective in issues as severe as heart disease, breast cancer, leukemia, meningioma cells, and other possible tumors and cancer types. Research suggests 5-LOXIN has advantages over chemotherapy. Boswellia is otherwise used as a treatment for the following:

1. osteoarthritis
2. rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
3. asthma
4. inflammatory bowel disease
5. pain management

5. Studies

In an encouraging recent study of 5-LOXIN, where cell tracking techniques were utilized, proved that tumor cells lost their ability to metastasize and resulted in cell death in the same cells, by way of apoptosis.

For neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2), research is already underway of boswellia, in Ohio State University under Dr. Welling. More information on that can be found in the "Transcript of Rachelle Swafford's Memorial and Brad Welling, MD, PhD Presentation at the Ohio Gathering."

6. Side Effects - Warning and Suggestions

Boswellia / 5-LOXIN is safe and well tolerated with no noted side effects listed. However, as a form of steroids, this might be an issue and surgery will then be necessary. Make sure your doctor knows you are taking this and at what dose.

7. Prescription Conflicts

It is important to check conflicts there might be with other prescription medication you might be taking. If the doctor prescribing your other medications is not familiar with boswellia, you might want to ask about conflicts there might be with prednisone since it is the closest medication to compare it to.

8. Sources

1. Suhail, M. M., Wu, W., et al. "Boswellia sacra essential oil induces tumor cell-specific apoptosis and suppresses tumor aggressiveness in cultured human breast cancer cells." BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 11(1), 129. (2011)
   Source: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/11/129/ | DOI: doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-11-129

   "Gum resins obtained from trees of the Burseraceae family (Boswellia sp.) are important ingredients in incense and perfumes. Extracts prepared from Boswellia sp. gum resins have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory and anti-neoplastic effects. Essential oil prepared by distillation of the gum resin traditionally used for aromatic therapy has also been shown to have tumor cell-specific anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activities. The objective of this study was to optimize conditions for preparing Boswellea sacra essential oil with the highest biological activity in inducing tumor cell-specific cytotoxicity and suppressing aggressive tumor phenotypes in human breast cancer cells."

2. Park, B., Prasad, et al. "Boswellic acid suppresses growth and metastasis of human pancreatic tumors in an orthotopic nude mouse model through modulation of multiple targets." PloS one, 6(10), e26943. (2011)
   Source: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0026943 | DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026943.g006

   "AKBA produced significant decreases in the expression of NF-?B regulating genes in the tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis also showed AKBA downregulated the expression of COX-2, MMP-9, CXCR4, and VEGF in the tissues. Overall these results demonstrate that AKBA can suppress the growth and metastasis of human pancreatic tumors in an orthotopic nude mouse model that correlates with modulation of multiple targets."

3. Yadav, V. R., et al. "Boswellic acid inhibits growth and metastasis of human colorectal cancer in orthotopic mouse model by downregulating inflammatory, proliferative, invasive and angiogenic biomarkers." International Journal of Cancer, 130(9), 2176-2184. (2012)
   Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ijc.26251 | DOI: 10.1002/ijc.26251

   "Numerous cancer therapeutics were originally identified from natural products used in traditional medicine. One such agent is acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA), derived from the gum resin of the Boswellia serrata known as Salai guggal or Indian frankincense. Traditionally, it has been used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat proinflammatory conditions. In this report, we hypothesized that AKBA can affect the growth and metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC) in orthotopically implanted tumors in nude mice. We found that the oral administration of AKBA (50-200 mg/kg) dose-dependently inhibited the growth of CRC tumors in mice, resulting in decrease in tumor volumes than those seen in vehicle-treated mice without significant decreases in body weight."

   "Thus, our findings suggest that this boswellic acid analog can inhibit the growth and metastasis of human CRC (colorectal cancer) in vivo through downregulation of cancer-associated biomarkers."

4. Agrawal, S. S., et al. "Antitumor properties of Boswellic acid against Ehrlich ascites cells bearing mouse." Food and Chemical Toxicology, 49(9), 1924-1934. (2011)
   Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691511001426 | DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2011.04.007

   "Boswellic acid (BA), a triterpene, isolated from Boswellia serrata (Burseraceae) has been found to possess potent anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity."

   "The treatments also increased the survival of tumor-bearing mice."

   "The present study sheds light on the potent antitumor property of the boswellic acid and can be extended further to develop therapeutic protocols for treatment of cancer."