Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Am J Chin Med. 2012;40(4):657-69. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X12500498.
In the United States, many patients, including cancer patients, concurrently take prescription drugs and herbal supplements. Co-administration of prescription medicines and herbal supplements may have negative outcomes via pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic herb-drug interactions. However, multiple constituents in botanicals may also yield beneficial pharmacological activities. Botanicals could possess effective anticancer compounds that may be used as adjuvants to existing chemotherapy to improve efficacy and/or reduce drug-induced toxicity. Herbal medicines, such as ginseng, potentiated the effects of chemotherapeutic agents via synergistic activities, supported by cell cycle evaluations, apoptotic observations, and computer-based docking analysis. Since botanicals are nearly always administrated orally, the role of intestinal microbiota in metabolizing ginseng constituents is presented. Controlled clinical studies are warranted to verify the clinical utility of the botanicals in cancer chemoprevention.
在美国，许多患者，包括癌症患者，同时服用处方药和草药补充剂。处方药和草药补充剂的联合使用可能会通过药效学和药代动力学的草药-药物相互作用产生负面结果。然而，植物中的多种成分也可能产生有益的药理活性。植物可能含有有效的抗癌化合物，可作为现有化疗的辅助药物，以提高疗效和/或降低药物诱导的毒性。草药，如人参，通过协同作用增强了化疗药物的作用，细胞周期评估、凋亡观察和基于计算机的对接分析支持这一作用。由于植物通常是口服给药的，因此提出了肠道微生物群在代谢人参成分中的作用。需要进行对照临床试验来验证植物在癌症化学预防中的临床应用。
