Medicinal tree used in cancer cure found in K'taka forests

Sirsi, Karnataka, July 14 (UNI) A team of forestry scientists has found 'Mappia foetida' species in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka with high content of Camptothecin (CPT), used in the treatment of overian and colon cancer.

The rare medicinal tree had been identified to be the richest source of CPT and its derivatives, the world's most sought after plant-based bio-molecules to treat cancer, team leader Dr R Vasudeva, a faculty in the College of Forestry here, said.

Earlier, it was derived from a Chinese tree called 'Camptotheca'.

However, as the percentage of CPT content was too low, it became necessary to identify an alternative and rich source of the group of alkaloids, he said.

Dr Vasudeva said scientists from the College of Forestry and University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, had jointly conducted survey and chemical profiling of different population of 'Mappia foetida' in the entire Western Ghats and concluded that natural plants found in Uttara Kannada district had the highest content of CPT (0.7 per cent which was several times more than the other known sources). Besides, analysis of different tissue samples proved that stem and bark of the tree have the highest concentration of CPT.

He lamented that the tree, commonly known as ''Stinking tree'' due to the bad smell during flowering season, was being over exploited.

As the active ingredient was present in the wood, essentially the entire tree was chopped off. Export of dry wood chips from Mumbai port alone recorded a sharp increase from 54 tonnes in 1994 to 760 tonnes in recent years.

Holding the increasing demand for the tree's twigs and extracts responsible for the dwindling of the species' natural population, he said, citing a World Bank survey, that while the twigs fetched Rs 15-20 per kg, the processed extract was sold by multinational pharmaceutical companies for US Dollar 15,000 per kg in the global market. Fearing the destruction of more than 25 per cent of the natural population in recent years, scientists have evolved protocols to make CPT harvest sustainable.

Dr Vasudeva said that once the high-CPT-yielding trees were identified from the natural population, it could be grown as captive plantations using standardised growing techniques in the wastelands of the Malnad region. It could be a perennial component of agroforestry systems as it was neither fit for grazing nor for use as timber or firewood because of its bad odour. Its good sprouting ability could help farmers harvest periodically once in two years, besides earning them additional income.

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