澳大利亚研究者不久前通过小规模临床试验发现，欧洲常见的杂草“南欧大戟”的汁液可用于治疗非色素瘤皮肤癌，并且对一些不适合采用现有疗法的患者有效。
非色素瘤皮肤癌是最常见的一类皮肤癌，多发于老年人，通常可用手术、冷冻等手段治愈，但对一部分患者无效，而且有些患者由于年龄等原因不适合采用这些疗法。
澳大利亚研究人员在新一期《英国皮肤病学杂志》上报告说，他们的试验对象是36名非色素瘤皮肤癌患者，现有疗法对其中部分患者没有疗效，有的患者则拒绝或不适合采取现有疗法。
这些患者的皮肤上共有48处皮肤癌病灶。在第一轮治疗中，研究人员将南欧大戟的汁液涂抹在患处，每天一次，持续3天。一个月后，有41处病灶出现“完全应答”，即临床检验发现肿瘤消失。只出现部分应答的患者接受了第二轮治疗。
完全应答意味着取得非常积极的疗效，但不表示彻底治愈，因为存在复发的可能。然而跟踪调查显示，平均15个月之后，约有三分之二的病灶仍呈现完全应答的效果。
研究人员说，这一结果显示了南欧大戟汁液提取物在治疗皮肤癌方面的前景，目前认为是其汁液中一种代号为PEP005的物质发挥了作用，今后将通过大规模研究来进一步验证这种物质的功效。
南欧大戟是一种大戟科植物，广泛分布于欧美等地，是房前屋后或园林中常见的杂草，中国也有分布。南欧大戟在欧洲被当作一种民间草药由来已久，用于治疗皮肤病、哮喘和癌症等等。
不过专家提醒说，普通人不应在家自行尝试用南欧大戟的汁液来治疗皮肤癌，因为这项研究还处于试验阶段，并可能引起皮肤发炎等一些不良反应。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
British Journal of Dermatology doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2010.10184.x
The sap from Euphorbia peplus is effective against human nonmelanoma skin cancers
J.R. Ramsay1, A. Suhrbier2,3, J.H. Aylward4, S. Ogbourne2, S.-J. Cozzi2, M.G. Poulsen1, K.C. Baumann1, P. Welburn4, G.L. Redlich4, P.G. Parsons2,3
Summary
Background The sap from Euphorbia peplus, commonly known as petty spurge in the U.K. or radium weed in Australia, has been used as a traditional treatment for a number of cancers.
Objective To determine the effectiveness of E. peplus sap in a phase I/II clinical study for the topical treatment of basal cell carcinomas (BCC), squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and intraepidermal carcinomas (IEC).
Methods Thirty-six patients, who had refused, failed or were unsuitable for conventional treatment, were enrolled in a phase I/II clinical study. A total of 48 skin cancer lesions were treated topically with 100–300 μL of E. peplus sap once daily for 3 days.
Results The complete clinical response rates at 1 month were 82% (n = 28) for BCC, 94% (n = 16) for IEC and 75% (n = 4) for SCC. After a mean follow-up of 15 months these rates were 57%, 75% and 50%, respectively. For superficial lesions < 16 mm, the response rates after follow-up were 100% for IEC (n = 10) and 78% for BCC (n = 9).
Conclusions The clinical responses for these relatively unfavourable lesions (43% had failed previous treatments, 35% were situated in the head and neck region and 30% were > 2 cm in diameter), are comparable with existing nonsurgical treatments. An active ingredient of E. peplus sap has been identified as ingenol mebutate (PEP005). This clinical study affirms community experience with E. peplus sap, and supports further clinical development of PEP005 for the treatment of BCC, SCC and IEC.
