A returning patient
called me yesterday. She was a breast cancer survivor when I saw her as a
student intern in Chinese medical school. If I had been more confident
at the time, I would have suggested she be diligent in preventing a
recurrence of breast cancer, and explained how she might attempt that
with Chinese medicine.
Even if I had, however, she might not
have followed my advice, because Chinese medicine's credibility has yet
to catch up with its sophistication, efficacy, and research.It's
well known that acupuncture can help with palliative strategies in
cancer- for pain relief, itching relief, and nausea. The topic examined
less often is: can Chinese medicine fight cancer directly? Many
acupuncture teachers and practitioners warn us not to claim that it can -
they suggest there's some law against us treating cancer, and you can
see how reactive conservative doctors might be to the idea. They are
accustomed to having control of the treatment of all cancer, regardless
of whether they can help individual patients, or how much damage their
therapies cause. Still, there is research and a clinical track record
that suggests Chinese medicine can do more than just reduce discomforts.
I
can't resolve all by myself in this short space the political issues
and ethical issues of alternative medical treatment. But, I suggest that
if a patient who refuses conventional treatment, then their alternative
practitioners should find out everything they can and do all they can
to help the patient recover, or at least become more comfortable.
Even
in my small alternative medicine library, I have 2 books on Chinese
herbs for cancer, and a third that summarizes the research on natural
compounds used in cancer therapy. On PubMed, I found even more
scientific references about herbs and breast cancer specifically. It's
not the case that there isn't research on this topic. Instead, as with
much Chinese medicine research, the information is either unknown, or
unused by Western physicians. What follows is a short summary of the
scientific information I found (in less than an hour) on alternative
medicine and breast cancer. At the end, I've provided some herbal
formulas for practitioners.
Human Studies on Natural Compounds for Cancer Therapy:
John
Boik, MacOM, LAc has contributed a weighty work called Natural
Compounds in Cancer Therapy (Oregon Medical Press, 2001). It not only
reviews hundreds of scientific references, but also explains many
specific cancer disease processes. The following human studies are drawn
from that book, but their specific references are also included.
Scientific
research is done either in vitro (test tube), in animals, or in humans.
Knowing that any non-human research is easily discounted by skeptics,
I've chosen only the human studies. However, the other studies are also
interesting and helpful, so if you want more, get Boik's book. All of
the following are specific for breast cancer.
6 Bromelain tablets for 10 days corrected deficient macrophage activity. (1)
Vitamin
C was found to not necessarily good for breast cancer and may actually
have accelerated some patients' deaths, but those who lived had fewer
recurrences. (2,3)
Eleuthrococcus stimulated the immune system in breast cancer patients. (4)
Higher levels of fat intake in breast cancer patients was associated with increased risks of recurrence and death. (5)
In post mastectomy breast cancer patients, there were higher survival rates among those who took enzymes. (6)
Enzyme therapy also improved weight gain, fatigue, depression and quality of life. (6)
A
diet of 20% fish oil (24g/kg) improved the anti-tumor effect of the
chemotherapy drug mitomycin due to enhanced lipid peroxidation. [This
was a combined human/animal study where human cells were studied after
transplantation to an animal] (7)
Vitamin D3 helps chemotherapy drugs work better. (8)
Chinese herbs for Breast Cancer
I
have access to three sources for Chinese herbs and breast cancer. One
is a book called Anticancer Chinese Drugs by Lien & Li, which
surveys more than 120 plants used to treat cancer, and examines the
chemical structure and effects of individual compounds from those
plants. Below are 4 compounds from this book specifically for breast
cancer. Unfortunately, none of these are among the 500 or so common
Chinese herbs referred to in the standard reference, Materia Medica, by
Bensky & Barolet. Note that there are closer to 12,000 substances
called herbs used here and there in Chinese medicine.
Labiatae I. longitubis inhibits br ca cells in vitro (Lien/Li, 10).
Maytansine
(from maytanus oratus, serrata, buchananii, and hookeri) prevents
polymerization of tubulin to microtubules (ibid, 85). (9)
9-hydroxy-2-methyl-ellipticinum
(from ochrosia moorei and borbonica) has therapeutic value in advanced
breast cancer (ibid, 78). (10)
In phase III clinical trials,
VP-16 (from podophyllum berberidaceae) has caused responses in a number
of cancers including breast cancer (ibid, 60). (11)
More Science:
A quick search of PubMed for more research on herbs for breast cancer yielded 4 interesting results:
Huang
lian (coptis) inhibited tumor growth (gastric, colon, breast)... "These
results indicate that traditional Chinese herbs may represent a new
source of agents designed for selective inhibition of cyclin dependent
kinases in cancer therapy." (12)
Hemsleya amabilis extract significantly inhibited tumor cell growth and colony formation and promoted tumor cell death.(13)
Triptolide
(TPL), a diterpenoid triepoxide purified from the Chinese herb
Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, in vitro inhibited the proliferation and
colony formation of tumor cells and the antitumor effect of TPL was
comparable or superior with that of conventional antitumor drugs, such
as Adriamycin, mitomycin, and cisplatin. (14)
Huang qi root
specifically inhibits gastric cancer cells growth in vitro - its
mechanism is mainly inhibition of cancer cell growth, not attacking or
dismantling of existing cancer cells. (15)
Chinese Herbal Formulas for Breast Cancer (For Practitioner Reference)
My
final source is a book called Treating Cancer with Chinese Herbs (Hsu,
Ohai Press, 1990). This book is mainly for practitioners to learn from
and use. It is not scientifically referenced - of course, some Chinese
physicians and writers are not familiar with the Western insistence on
always quoting your sources, so some of this information may have
science behind it. We just can't tell from Hsu's book. But here's a
suggestion patients can try at home:
Combine the juice of 90g of
fresh asparagus (or 30g peeled) with yellow wine (a traditional Chinese
wine made from rice) once a day.
References:
1.Eckert K,
Grabowska E, Stange R, et al. Effects of oral bromelain administrations
on the impaired immunocytoxicity of mononuclear cells from mammary
tumors. Oncol Rep 1999 Nov-Dec; 6(6):1191-9.
2.Poulter JM, White WF,
Dickerson JW. Ascorbic acid supplementation and five year survival
rates in women with breast cancer. Acta Vitaminol Enzymol 1984;
6(3):175-82.
3.Murata A, Morishige F, Yamaguchi H. Prolongation of
survival times of terminal cancer patients by administration of large
doses of ascorbate. Int J Vitam Nutr Res Suppl 1982; 23:103-13.
4.Kupin
VI, Polevaia EB. [Stimulation of the immunological reactivity of cancer
patients by Eleuthrococcus extract.] Vopr Onkol 1986; 32(7):21-6.
5.Saxe
GA, Rock CL, Wisha MS, Schottenfield D. Diet and risk for breast cancer
recurrence and survival. Breast Cancer Res Treat 1999 Feb;
53(3):241-53.
6.Klaschka F. Oral Enzymes in Oncology: Clinical studies on Wobe-MuGos. MUCOS Pharma GmbH, 1997. http://www.mucos.de
7.Shao
Y, Pardini L, Pardini RS. Dietary menhaden oil enhances mitomycin C
antitumor activity toward human mammary carcinoma MX-1. Lipids 1995 Nov;
30(11):1035-45.
8.This refers to 7 studies, referenced in shorter
style: Ravid A. Cancer Res 1999 Feb 15; 59(4):862-7. Studzinski GP. J
Natl Cancer Inst 1986 Apr; 76(4):641-8. Moffatt KA. Clin Cancer Res 1999
Mar; 5(3):695-703. Vink-van Wijngaarden T. Breast Cancer Res Treat 1994
Feb; 29(2):161-8. Saunders DE. Gynecol Oncol 1993 Nov; 51(2):155-9. Cho
YL. Cancer Res 1991 Jun 1; 51(11):2848-53. Tanaka H. Clin Orthop 1989
Oct; (247):290-6.
9.There were promising Phase I trials on maytansine against breast cancer in the 1980's, but phase II trials were disappointing.
10.Juret
P, Heron JF, Couette JE, Delozier T, Le Talaer JY.
Hydroxy-9-methyl-2-ellipticinium for osseous metastases from breast
cancer: a 5-year experience. Cancer Treat Rep. 1982 Nov; 66(11):
1909-16.
11.Slayton RE, Blessing JA, Delgado G. Phase II trial of
etoposide in the management of advanced or recurrent endometrial
carcinoma: a Gynecologic Oncology Group Study. Cancer Treat Rep. 1982
Aug; 66(8): 1669-71. No abstract available.
12.Li XK, Motwani M,
Tong W, Bornmann W, Schwartz GK. Huanglian, A chinese herbal extract,
inhibits cell growth by suppressing the expression of cyclin B1 and
inhibiting CDC2 kinase activity in human cancer cells. Mol Pharmacol.
2000 Dec; 58(6): 1287-93.
13.Wu J, Wu Y, Yang BB. Anticancer activity of Hemsleya amabilis extract. Life Sci. 2002 Sep 20; 71(18): 2161-70.
14.Yang
S, Chen J, Guo Z, Xu XM, Wang L, Pei XF, Yang J, Underhill CB, Zhang L.
Triptolide inhibits the growth and metastasis of solid tumors. Mol
Cancer Ther. 2003 Jan; 2(1): 65-72.
15.Lin J, Dong HF, Oppenheim JJ,
Howard OM. Effects of astragali radix on the growth of different cancer
cell lines. World J Gastroenterol. 2003 Apr; 9(4): 670-3.
About the Author
Acupuncturist, herbalist, and medical professor Brian B. Carter
founded the alternative health megasite The Pulse of Oriental Medicine
(http://www.PulseMed.org/). He is the author of the book "Powerful Body,
Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure"
(November, 2004). Brian speaks on radio across the country, and has
been quoted and interviewed by Real Simple, Glamour, and ESPN magazines. |
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