Science

Devil's club may help leukemia patients, study suggests

Devil's club, the prickly-stemmed plant so prized by indigenous peoples for its pain-reducing qualities that it is sometimes nicknamed "Tlingit aspirin," shows promise of having another medicinal quality -- the power to combat leukemia.

A new study by scientists from Alaska and Pennsylvania and published in the journal Phytotherapy Research documents an experiment showing that mice afflicted with leukemia survived longer if they drank water laced with small amounts of devil's club extract.

That does not mean devil's club can stop leukemia, said Colin McGill, a University of Alaska Anchorage biochemist who co-authored the study. But it does indicate that the active ingredient in the plant could give more time for other therapies to help leukemia patients.

"It doesn't cure leukemia. It slows the progress. That's a really important distinction," McGill said.

Anchorage devil's club tested

The extract used in the study came from a patch of devil's club collected in Anchorage. Extract was prepared from root that was stripped of its bark, dried and ground to a powder. "I've used a lot of devil's club from friend's homes around the Anchorage Bowl," McGill said.

Unlike the traditional Native method of preparing devil's club extract -- steeping it as tea, then boiling the water away until a concentrated liquid remains -- McGill and his colleagues used an ethanol-water mixture. The resulting product was a concentrated amber liquid.

The extract was then sent to Penn State's College of Medicine, where some of McGill's co-authors work. One of the co-authors, Brian Barth, was a graduate-school colleague of McGill's at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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The test subjects were laboratory mice into which leukemia cells were grafted. Half were given drinking water containing small amounts of the devil's club extract, and half were given plain drinking water.

The type of leukemia that was the subject of the study -- acute myeloid leukemia -- is particularly aggressive and lethal.

Typically, it kills mice within 21 days, McGill said. That was the outcome for most of the mice, male and female, that did not drink the devil's club-infused water. But those that got the devil's club treatment survived longer, by an amount that was statistically significant. For male mice given Devil's club extract, survival extended as long as 36 days; for the female mice, the longest survival was 32 days.

Devil's club grows in the moist coastal areas ranging from the Pacific Northwest to Southcentral Alaska. Though many hikers consider it a scratchy forest nuisance, indigenous peoples value its medicinal qualities. The plant has been used to combat a variety of ailments -- arthritis, skin wounds, intestinal problems and fever, among others.

Some entrepreneurs in Alaska and elsewhere sell lotions and salves containing devil's club extract.

McGill has a longstanding interest in health and therapeutic qualities of Alaska plants. But as someone who grew up in Fairbanks, he was more familiar with blueberries and other Interior vegetation, not coastal plants like devil's club. His interest in devil's club was piqued by a fellow UAF graduate student who happened to be from Wrangell and was well acquainted with the plant.

Also knowledgeable about devil's club is Charles Benson, a UAA undergraduate and co-author of the leukemia paper. Benson used some of the devil's club on himself while he was he was harvesting specimens for the project, McGill said. At the time, he was recovering from some dental work, and he chewed on some pieces to soothe his aching mouth. "Within 10 minutes, he had sufficient relief from the bark while he was picking Devil's club," McGill said.

The devil's club studies continue.

McGill is involved in an Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium project examining the therapeutic effects of devil's club on rheumatoid arthritis. He and his colleagues also hope to do further analysis that will identify the exact components in devil's club that have health benefits.

Contact Yereth Rosen at yereth(at)alaskadispatch.com.

Yereth Rosen

Yereth Rosen was a reporter for Alaska Dispatch News.

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