A MIXTURE OF CAMEL MILK AND URINE SHOWS ANTICANCER PROPERTIES IN VITRO AND IN VIVO: AN EVIDENCE OF A TRADITIONAL ETHNOMEDICINE PRACTICE

Fatema Habeeb

Medical Laboratory Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait

Abstract

Abstract Background: Treatment with urine and milk mixture of she camel's is well known remedy in the Arabic peninsula. There are claims that the mixture of camel milk and urine can treat several diseases including cancer. Several in vitro studies had shown that either camel milk or urine can cause selective apoptosis in different cancer cell lines. However, no single clinical case was reported to either support or refute the claims. Objective: To investigate the possible anticancer properties of camel milk and urine in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Camel’s urine was mixed with camel’s milk at different ratios. Then, camel’s urine and milk mixture was incubated with Kelly, HCT-116 and TE-671 for different time intervals. After which, the viability was measured by viability analyzer (Vi CELL). Mononuclear cells were isolated from normal blood was used as normal cells. After which, the ratio that reduced the viability of cancer cells but not normal cells was used to treat pancreatic adenocarcinoma patient post chemotherapy. Results: Results had shown that camel’s urine and milk mixture has significantly lowered the number of viable cancer cells in the three cell lines without affecting normal mononuclear cells isolated from the blood. Furthermore, the size of pancreatic cancer was significantly reduced in size from 7 x 6 x 5 cm to 6.2 x 5.5 x 4.5 cm after 9 days of treatment. No significant anticancer effect was observed in the liver. Conclusion: The mixture of camel’s urine and milk can be a possible anticancer remedy that worth further research. Studying the active components in the mixture is currently under investigation.

Keywords: Camel, Milk, Urine, Anticancer, Natural products.