Herbs and Natural Supplements for Breast Cancer by Brian B. Carter, MS, LAc

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.

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BIO:

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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