Natural zeolite clinoptilolite: new adjuvant in anticancer therapy

Krešimir Pavelić, Mirko Hadžija, Ljiljana Bedrica, Jasminka Pavelić, Ivan Ðikić, Maša Katić, Marijeta Kralj, Maja Herak Bosnar, Sanja Kapitanović, Marija Poljak-Blaži, Šimun Križanac, Ranko Stojković, Mislav Jurin, Boris Subotić, Miroslav Čolić

Natural silicate materials, including zeolite clinoptilolite, have been shown to exhibit diverse biological activities and have been used successfully as a vaccine adjuvant and for the treatment of diarrhea. We report a novel use of finely ground clinoptilolite as a potential adjuvant in anticancer therapy. Clinoptilolite treatment of mice and dogs suffering from a variety of tumor types led to improvement in the overall health status, prolongation of life-span, and decrease in tumors size. Local application of clinoptilolite to skin cancers of dogs effectively reduced tumor formation and growth. In addition, toxicology studies on mice and rats demonstrated that the treatment does not have negative effects. In vitro tissue culture studies showed that finely ground clinoptilolite inhibits protein kinase B (c-Akt), induces expression of p21WAF1/CIP1 and p27KIP1 tumor suppressor proteins, and blocks cell growth in several cancer cell lines. These data indicate that clinoptilolite treatment might affect cancer growth by attenuating survival signals and inducing tumor suppressor genes in treated cells.