Patient with Metastatic Breast Cancer Achieves Stable Disease for 5 Years on Graviola and Xeloda after Progressing on Multiple Lines of Therapy

• DOI: 10.4236/abcr.2014.33012
• Publication Date: 2014-07-01T14:33:25Z
• Authors: Damien Mikael Hansra; Orlando Silva; Ashwin Mehta; Eugene Ahn
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; 3. Good health

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women and is second to lung cancer in terms of cancer mortality. Treatment of BC remains a challenge as current therapies are limited by toxicity and drug resistance. Graviola (Annona muricata) is a tree that grows in the tropics of North and South America. Traditionally, the leaves and stems from the graviola tree have been used for a wide range of human diseases including cancer. In vitro and in vivo studies demonstrate anticancer activity in BC however clinical studies are lacking. We present the first case demonstrating clinical benefit without side effects using graviola in a patient with BC whose disease was refractory to multiple lines of chemotherapy including anthracyclines and taxanes.