The gift of frankincense in the Biblical story may have helped Mary, the mother of Jesus, in particular, researchers revealed today.
A new study suggests the perfume may have powerful properties to treat ovarian cancer.
It comes from a tree found in Africa and Arabia, the Boswellia sacra tree, and has long been used as a herbal medicine for problems such as asthma and skin disease.
Researchers from Leicester University, UK, have gained backing from the government of Oman to research the spice.
Now laboratory studies suggest a compound known as AKBA (acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid) can kill cancer cells in the late stage of the disease.
Researcher Kamla Al-Salmani said: "After a year of studying the AKBA compound with ovarian cancer cell lines in vitro, we have been able to show it is effective at killing the cancer cells. Frankincense is taken by many people with no known side effects.
"This finding has enormous potential to be taken to a clinical trial in the future and developed into an additional treatment for ovarian cancer."
Fellow researcher Dr Mark Evans said: "What has been most surprising is that the cells we have tested which are resistant to chemotherapy have shown to be more sensitive to this compound, suggesting frankincense may indeed be able to help overcome drug resistance, and lead to an improved survival rate for patients with late-stage ovarian cancer"
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