Oral milk thistle extract stops colorectal cancer stem cells from growing tumours

Oral administration of the chemical silibinin, purified from milk thistle, slows the ability of colorectal cancer stem cells to grow the disease, according to research presented at the 2015 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this week. The University of Colorado Cancer Center, Denver Colorado US, study shows that when stem cells from tumours grown in silibinin-fed conditions were re-injected into new models, the cells failed to develop equally aggressive tumours even in the absence of silibinin (also known as silybin).