Abstract
We are pleased to begin this issue with a review article on studies of the effect of psychosocial interventions on immunological variables in cancer. Interest in this topic dates back at least to the work of the Simontons, who worked on guided imagery as a way to mobilize immune cells against cancer. Numerous experimental and quasi-experimental studies on psychoneuroimmunology have been published since the start of the new century. These are reviewed by Utkarsh Subnis and colleagues at Virginia Commonwealth University. Methodological concerns dominate the findings of this review, and for good reason, as the authors explain.
Like guided imagery, biofield therapies also have a long history as a topic of interest to cancer patients. Healing Touch has become one of the best-researched of these therapies. In the course of applying rigorous research methods to the biofield area, Fern FitzHenry and colleagues at Vanderbilt University designed a randomized pilot study comparing Healing Touch with a sham therapy. The use of sham therapies is now recognized as critical to teasing out true effects of behavioral and complementary or alternative medicine interventions, and we are pleased these authors are working with this methodology.
We next feature 2 articles on African American breast cancer patients. This group is of particular interest due to the continuing elevated mortality for African American cancer patients. Vanessa Sheppard of Georgetown University and her colleagues assessed the dietary intakes of overweight and obese African American breast cancer patients and compared them to national recommendations. Information like this has direct clinical application: by pointing out areas where the diets of this population diverge from recommendations, the authors give dietitians and others working with these patients clues to where interventions could be targeted.
Denise Spector and colleagues at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recruited African American breast cancer patients to a home-based exercise program and monitored increases in physical activity. Home-based programs are of real value for patients, since they avoid the need for gym memberships and other expenses. An interesting aspect of this study was the use of the motivational interviewing method to help explore exercise barriers and facilitation.
Acupuncture continues to attract attention as a means to control pain, which is of obvious interest in treating cancer patients. Kay Garcia and colleagues at MD Anderson Cancer Center direct their attention to uncontrolled pain in cancer patients in a pilot study of the potential usefulness of acupuncture for this all-too-frequent situation. It appears from their results that acupuncture may hold promise even for this clearly difficult-to-treat pain.
Decalepis hamiltonii is a liana, or woody vine, that is endemic to India and that is used to make a health drink with anti-inflammatory and other medicinal properties. It is also endangered, and its medicinal popularity contributes to its endangered status. Guruvayoorappan Chandrasekharan of Karunya University and colleagues have examined its impact on melanoma using a mouse model. The impact of the plant extract on inflammatory mediators and NF-kappaB may explain its effectiveness on lung tumor metastasis in the experimental animals, demonstrating again the relevance of traditional uses of plants for inflammation to cancer control. It also demonstrates the need to preserve rare species, which may be sources of new medications in the future.
Traditional Chinese medicine very typically uses multiple herbal medicines in a single formula to treat illness. Fei Xiong and colleagues at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine report a study in which an extract of a formula traditionally used in cancer treatment is applied to mouse tumors along with cisplatin. Suggesting the helpfulness of multiple-component, multi-targeted formulas, this extract not only minimized chemotherapy-related weight loss but also promoted apoptosis.
Not all natural products can be assumed to be harmless. Zhifeng Qin and colleagues at Changzheng Hospital in Shanghai report 5 cases of elevation of the tumor marker CA72-4 in patients being treated for gastrointestinal cancer who took spores of Ganoderma lucidum, or reishi mushroom. Reishi is used in 2 forms, spores (reproductive cells) and, more commonly, mycelium (fungal body). Patients taking spores in the reported cases did experience elevations in this tumor marker, which decreased after ceasing intake of the supplement. In no case did any tumor progression or elevation of other markers take place; however, and in one case, the tumor marker spontaneously decreased while the patient continued the supplement. Since CA72-4 can surge temporarily under cytotoxic treatment, as part of a treatment response, these observations are actually more complicated than a simple situation of reishi spores stimulating tumor growth.
Drug–herb interactions also continue to be of concern. An article by Bhushan Patwardhan and colleagues at the Serum Institute of India examined the inhibitory effects of botanical immunomodulators on cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), an enzyme centrally involved in drug metabolism. One plant, Tinospora cordifolia, showed some potential for CYP3A4 inhibition. This species is not widely used outside Asia, but in examining the activities of its phytochemical constituents, the authors report data on CYP3A4 inhibition for protoberberine alkaloids, which are widely distributed in other medicinal plant species around the globe.
We conclude this editorial by acknowledging the reviewers who assisted in our article selection process during 2013. Peer review is a critical foundation of scholarly publication, and we would absolutely be unable to produce this journal without our reviewers. We thank them, and offer special thanks to those reviewers whose names appear on this list year after year, as they regularly respond to our requests to evaluate manuscripts. Here are the names of our 2013 reviewers, listed alphabetically:
Donald Abrams, Aamir Ahmad, Jane Alcorn, Jean Alvarez, William Aronson, Kristen Arthur, Tao Bai, Barbara Baker, Manjeshwar Baliga, Ting Bao, K. Batcioglu, Claudio Battaglini, Susan Bauer-Wu, Cherief Boutros, Boris Brkljacić, Debra Burns, Arndt Bussing, Jillian Capodice, Guruvayoorappan Chandrasekharan, Cheng-Shyong Chang, Fang-Rong Chang, Xiaoxin Chen, Wong-Kyung Cho, Kyung-Eun Choi, Amanda Bulette Coakley, Prue Cormie, Nicandro Cruz-Ramirez, Joseph Cullen, Gary Deng, Anne Doherty-Gillman, Graeme Donald, Julie Dunn, Isaac Eliaz, Anna Enblom, John Erdman, Shirley Fong, Heidi Fritz, K. Fung, Kay Garcia, Paula Geigle, Jagadananda Ghosh, Katherine Granger, D. B. Hales, T.P. Hamsa, Suzanne Hanser, Rachel Harris, Caroline Hoffman, Markus Horneber, J. Huang, K. Ina, Shamini Jain, Jong Soo Jeong, Georgios Kallifatidis, Guruprasad Kalthur, K. Kanazawa, Duck-Hee Kang, Gunver Kienle, Yeon Shik Kim, Brian Lawenda, Duo Li, Christopher Lis, Shu Liu, Sing Kai Lo, Bal Lokeshwar, C. Y. Looi, Kai Lu, Weidong Lu, Antonio Maccio, M. F. Mahmoud, T. Manchana, Dawn Marcus, Michael McCulloch, Tom McLean, S. C. McMillan, Mark Mead, Zhiquang Meng, Nina Mikirova, Pamela Miles, James Mitchell, Alex Molassiotis, Matt Mumber, Sheryl Ness, Byeongsang Oh, Carole Paley, Seema Patel, R. J. Paxton, Giuliana Pelicci, Luke Peppone, Csaba Peto, Gregory Plotnikoff, Ram Prasad, P. Pratheeshkumar, Timothy Puetz, Siva Ramamoorthy, Avraham Raz, S. A. Reid-Arndt, Joseph Roscoe, Steven Sagar, S. Saussez, Michael Schacter, Rebecca Sedjo, Esakimuthu Shankar, Vanessa Sheppard, Smit Singla, Daniel Sliva, Diana Steinmann, Shaida Sulaiman, Yingmeei Tan, Katherine Taromina, D. Trudel, Nancy Turner, Ashish Udhrain, Ingrid Van Der Mei, R. Vijayaraghavan, Hui-Chun Wang, Jane Wang, Zhijun Wang, Siobhan White, Raimond Wong, Gwen Wyatt, Yan Xu, Peiying Yang, Hwa Seung Yoo, Yunfeng Zhao, Xiansheng Zuo.