How Kan Zaw Oil Cures Cancer

How Kan Zaw Oil Cures Cancer

Kan-Zaw oil is used for primary healthcare in rural areas in Myanmar. According to local citizens and traditional practitioners in Southern Myanmar, they used Kan-Zaw oil from the seeds as major remedy traditional medicine for the treatment of breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and various cancers, anti-peptic ulcer, paralysis, bronchitis, rash, chest pain, injury, sores, skin issues and other ailments.

The Kan-zaw seeds have not been previously systematic studies on the anti-cancer activity. The main aims of analyzing crude plant extracts are agents for direct use as drugs that can be used as lead substances in the preparation synthetic drugs. There are two main strategies for the selection of plants species in anticancer drug discovery: the first one contain random screening and ethno medical knowledge. The second approach includes plants used in organize traditional medical systems like herbalism and folklore. The search for new anti-cancer drugs is one of the most prominent research areas of natural products. In the present study, the anticancer activity of Kan-zaw seeds were investigated.

The Kan-Zaw tree produces Kan-zaw oil with high medicinal value. It is highly regarded as a universal panacea in the ayurvedic medicine and large evergreen tree distributed in only Tanintharyi region of Myanmar.

In the recent work in the Department of Botany, Lashio University, Dr. Lwin leads a professional team to perform fatty acid analysis of Kan-Zaw oil (FAME Analysis). Per the fatty acid analysis, it is concluded that the Kan-Zaw seed oil contains approximately >70% α-eleostearic acid and 3.25 % β-eleostearic acid an unusual conjugated fatty acid that imparts a potent anti-cancer application and industrially important drying qualities to Kan-Zaw oil.

This study also investigated cytotoxic potential of various extracts of Kan-Zaw seeds using ethanol, methanol, acetone, chloroform and use pure Kan-Zaw oil against human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) by MTT 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay.

The various extracts of Kan-zaw seeds (ethanol, methanol, acetone, chloroform) and pure Kan-zaw oil were effective towards tested cell line, with inhibition and they were found that with the highest 87.14%, 81.56%, 87.48%, 87.99% and 88.32% respectively. The Kan-Zaw extracts and oil have shown significant anti-cancer activity on HeLa cells.

Please refer to the below link on Dr. Lwin's essay on the Journal of the Myanmar Academy of Arts and Science 2019.

ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF VARIOUS KAN-ZAW EXTRACTS ON HUMAN CERVICAL CANCER CELLS (HELA)