Abstract
This issue begins with another in a series of systematic review articles authored by faculty of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine and their collaborators at other Canadian institutions. These articles have provided extremely useful overviews of several important integrative therapies. The topic this issue is flaxseed and breast cancer. Flax is well known to have phytoestrogenic properties due to the lignans in its seed hulls. Phytoestrogens are somewhat controversial due to potential estrogenic stimulation, and we are pleased to note that flax effects on breast cancer incidence and mortality appear to be beneficial, as has also recently been noted for soy.
Fatigue is a multidimensional and widespread problem among cancer patients. Fatigue is receiving more attention throughout oncology circles as patients become more comfortable verbalizing their experiences of cancer and its treatments. We have previously published articles on a variety of methods for addressing it, and in this issue we are able to present a meta-analysis of studies of acupuncture as an approach to cancer-related fatigue. Dr Yingchun Zeng of Guangzhou Medical University and coauthors present a carefully performed analysis that reveals much about the problems of doing research in this area.
Dr Manjeshwar Baliga has contributed several articles to Integrative Cancer Therapies over the past 10 years, always on the topic of using herbal medicines in cancer therapy, and often in the specific area of using herbs to ameliorate side effects of conventional treatment. In this issue, he discusses the versatile herb turmeric, this time applied as a mouthwash for radiation-induced mucositis. Given the poor gastrointestinal availability of curcumin, using it as a topical treatment is certainly a creative strategy and one that, as Baliga and colleagues show, has some clinical promise.
Moxibustion is a technique of traditional Asian medicine in which cones of the herb “moxa” (Artemisia vulgaris) are placed on the skin on acupuncture points, lit on fire, and burned down to just before the point where they would burn the skin. It is a way of stimulating acupuncture points with heat rather than the more widely applied needles or pressure. We present a pilot study of moxibustion for cancer pain from Dr Seong Woo Yoon from Kyung Hee University. We were quite interested to see the use of sham moxibustion in this study and will leave the reader to investigate the method used.
This issue contains an article from the laboratory of Dr Qi Chen at the University of Kansas, where studies of intravenous vitamin C are also currently underway. The article concerns Rauwolfia vomitoria, an African plant related to Rauwolfia serpentina, which many may know as the source of reserpine. Rauwolfia vomitoria is the first of 2 plants discussed in this issue used in the Beljanski alternative cancer treatment protocol. Chen and colleagues have investigated this extract in vivo in conjunction with gemcitabine for pancreatic cancer, and the authors note a welcome potential for increased control of this disease, otherwise so difficult to treat.
Jiun Lang Chen and colleagues at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan have explored the use of a formula of Chinese herbs, Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San, in conjunction with tamoxifen. This herbal formula is the most widely used traditional medicine prescribed for breast cancer in Taiwan, and the authors felt it was important to study for potential negative interactions. We were relieved to see there was not an obvious negative interaction, but the authors do recommend caution with its use due to a more subtle potential for interaction.
Skullcaps, or plants in the genus Scutellaria, have some interesting anticancer properties. Jiumao Lin and colleagues at Fujian University discuss Scutellaria barbata (a close relative of the well-known Baikal skullcap, Scutellaria baicalensis). They examine the multitargeted nature of its inhibition of colon cancer. By our count, they find 11 different targets affected by the species that are of potential clinical interest.
Geissospermum vellosii is a South American rainforest tree that is the second of the plants used in the Beljanski cancer protocol that is discussed in this issue. It is the source of the extract referred to as Pao pereira. In our article, authored by Yan Jun and colleagues at Nanjing University, the potential effects for this plant in castration-resistant prostate are examined, specifically through its effect on NF-kappaB, an important driver for this cancer.
Discovery of unexpected anticancer properties in common fruits and vegetables is almost commonplace in natural product pharmacology. This issue contains an article on the red raspberry, Rubus idaeus, by Pei-Ni Chen at Chung Shan Medical University and colleagues. The extract of this plant inhibits the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a step in the development of metastatic cancer, in lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. We would like be able to recommend eating raspberries as a lung cancer treatment, since this delectable fruit certainly has a more positive impact on quality of life than most cancer treatments, so we hope that further research in this area continues to show positive results!
Three other articles appearing in the index of this issue have been published online only, and will be available through the journal’s Web site, ict.sagepub.com. One of these concerns Avicennia marina, the grey mangrove of the Old World. Mangroves are shrubby trees that grow in dense thickets along coasts around the world. Mangroves have some medicinal uses. The current article, by Shinne-Ren Lin of Kaohsiung Medical University, discusses the role of a naphthoquinone compound in causing apoptosis. This species is also reputed to contain the anticancer naphthoquinone lapachol, the anticancer constituent of the herbal remedy Pau d-Arco (Tabebuia species).
Congjian Xu and colleagues at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Shanghai studied the ability of the ginkgo component Ginkolide B to increase the effects of cisplatin on ovarian cancer cells. Cisplatin is used in both intravenous and intraperitoneal treatment of ovarian cancer that has been surgically debulked, so this is a topic of some clinical importance. The authors report on the ability of this phytochemical to inhibit apoptosis and cell proliferation of the ovarian cancer cells.
Shaida Sulaiman and colleagues at Universiti Sains Malaysia discuss the herb Elephantopus mollis, a widespread weed of the tropics, in their online article. This herb is known to contain a phytochemical with anticancer properties, elephantopin. Their study, however, examines the extract of the plant, which contains a diverse group of phytochemicals. Its ability to promote apoptosis in liver cancer is discussed in detail, with a recommendation to further pursue this property with more advanced research.
To conclude, we would like to note the publication this spring of the book Doctored Results, by Ralph Moss, PhD, the Corresponding Editor of Integrative Cancer Therapies. Ralph has contributed interesting perspective articles to the journal, including summaries of integrative cancer treatment in Italy and in Tijuana, Mexico. His new volume discusses early research on laetrile, an alternative cancer treatment derived from apricot pits that was extremely popular in the 1970s and 1980s. In Doctored Results, Ralph shares a fascinating and uniquely personal look at the workings of a major medical institution in its early attempts to research alternative therapies. His account of pressures, internal and external, and how they affected the conduct and reporting of research on laetrile, provides an invaluable perspective on the beginnings of research on alternative medicine, deepening our understanding of tensions that can manifest in complementary and alternative medicine research even today.