    Mistletoe may kill off cancer cells   Danny Rose  Mistletoe
is renowned for inspiring Christmas-time kisses, and Australian
scientists are now probing its power to kill off cancer cells.
Work is underway at the University of Canberra to improve
understanding of the parasitic plant, which is used extensively
in cancer treatment programs in Germany.  Senior research fellow
at the university's Cancer Immunotherapy Group, Dr Ljubov
Simson, said Australian laboratory tests had confirmed
mistletoe's ability to stimulate the body's immune system while
killing off cancer cells.  Most importantly, Dr Simson says, it
does so without harming healthy cells nearby.  "In the
laboratory, we're finding that it is killing the tumour cells
but we're actually not getting any killing in terms of the
healthy cells," she said.  "So now we're interested in
dissecting out how it is being so selective. We really don't
have an answer for that at this stage... several of the
components are yet to be fully characterised."  Lab test