For Publishers
DiscoveryMetadataPeer reviewHostingPublishing
For Researchers
JoinPublishReviewCollect
Register
Blog
About
Search
Advanced search
My ScienceOpen
Search
For Publishers
For Researchers
Blog
About
66
views
76
references
 Top references
cited by
31
    
0 reviews
 Review
0
comments
 Comment
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      460
      similar
       All similar
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Ginseng and Anticancer Drug Combination to Improve Cancer Chemotherapy: A Critical Review

      review-article

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Ginseng, a well-known herb, is often used in combination with anticancer drugs to enhance chemotherapy. Its wide usage as well as many documentations are often cited to support its clinical benefit of such combination therapy. However the literature based on objective evidence to make such recommendation is still lacking. The present review critically evaluated relevant studies reported in English and Chinese literature on such combination. Based on our review, we found good evidence from in vitro and in vivo animal studies showing enhanced antitumor effect when ginseng is used in combination with some anticancer drugs. However, there is insufficient clinical evidence of such benefit as very few clinical studies are available. Future research should focus on clinically relevant studies of such combination to validate the utility of ginseng in cancer.

          Related collections

          Most cited references76

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Ginseng compounds: an update on their molecular mechanisms and medical applications.

          Jian-Ming Lü, Qizhi Yao, Changyi Chen (2009)
          Ginseng is one of the most widely used herbal medicines and is reported to have a wide range of therapeutic and pharmacological applications. Ginsenosides, the major pharmacologically active ingredients of ginseng, appear to be responsible for most of the activities of ginseng including vasorelaxation, antioxidation, anti-inflammation and anti-cancer. Approximately 40 ginsenoside compounds have been identified. Researchers now focus on using purified individual ginsenoside to reveal the specific mechanism of functions of ginseng instead of using whole ginseng root extracts. Individual ginsenosides may have different effects in pharmacology and mechanisms due to their different chemical structures. Among them the most commonly studied ginsenosides are Rb1, Rg1, Rg3, Re, Rd and Rh1. The molecular mechanisms and medical applications of ginsenosides have attracted much attention and hundreds of papers have been published in the last few years. The general purpose of this update is to provide information of recently described effects of ginsenosides on antioxidation, vascular system, signal transduction pathways and interaction with receptors. Their therapeutic applications in animal models and humans as well as the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of ginsenosides are also discussed in this review. This review concludes with some thoughts for future directions in the further development of ginseng compounds as effective therapeutic agents.
          Article 0 comments Cited 223 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: not found
            • Article: not found

            Recent Patterns of Medication Use in the Ambulatory Adult Population of the United States

            David Kaufman, Judith P. Kelly, Lynn Rosenberg … (2002)
            Article 0 comments Cited 143 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: found
              Is Open Access

              Ginsenosides as Anticancer Agents: In vitro and in vivo Activities, Structure–Activity Relationships, and Molecular Mechanisms of Action

              Subhasree Ashok Nag, Jiang-Jiang Qin, Wei-wei Wang … (2012)
              Conventional chemotherapeutic agents are often toxic not only to tumor cells but also to normal cells, limiting their therapeutic use in the clinic. Novel natural product anticancer compounds present an attractive alternative to synthetic compounds, based on their favorable safety and efficacy profiles. Several pre-clinical and clinical studies have demonstrated the anticancer potential of Panax ginseng, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine. The anti-tumor efficacy of ginseng is attributed mainly to the presence of saponins, known as ginsenosides. In this review, we focus on how ginsenosides exert their anticancer effects by modulation of diverse signaling pathways, including regulation of cell proliferation mediators (CDKs and cyclins), growth factors (c-myc, EGFR, and vascular endothelial growth factor), tumor suppressors (p53 and p21), oncogenes (MDM2), cell death mediators (Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, XIAP, caspases, and death receptors), inflammatory response molecules (NF-κB and COX-2), and protein kinases (JNK, Akt, and AMP-activated protein kinase). We also discuss the structure–activity relationship of various ginsenosides and their potentials in the treatment of various human cancers. In summary, recent advances in the discovery and evaluation of ginsenosides as cancer therapeutic agents support further pre-clinical and clinical development of these agents for the treatment of primary and metastatic tumors.
              Article 0 comments Cited 116 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
                Bookmark
                All references

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Evid Based Complement Alternat Med
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Evid Based Complement Alternat Med
                Journal ID (publisher-id): ECAM
                Title: Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM
                Publisher: Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                ISSN (Print): 1741-427X
                ISSN (Electronic): 1741-4288
                Publication date (Print): 2014
                Publication date (Electronic): 30 April 2014
                Publication date PMC-release: 30 April 2014
                Volume: 2014
                Electronic Location Identifier: 168940
                Affiliations
                1Department of Pharmacy, Xiamen Medical College, Xiamen, Fujian 361008, China
                2Center for Advancement of Drug Research and Evaluation, College of Pharmacy, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA 91766, USA
                3Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA 91766, USA
                Author notes
                *Moses Sing Sum Chow: msschow@ 123456westernu.edu

                Academic Editor: Zhong Zuo

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-8946
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2624-8739
                Article
                DOI: 10.1155/2014/168940
                PMC ID: 4021740
                PubMed ID: 24876866
                SO-VID: 74e98fee-5a24-444b-9428-6e5c3b2c3336
                Copyright © Copyright © 2014 Shihong Chen et al.
                License:

                This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                Date received : 16 December 2013
                Date revision received : 17 March 2014
                Date accepted : 20 March 2014
                Categories
                Subject: Review Article

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Complementary & Alternative medicine
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Complementary & Alternative medicine

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                scite_

                Similar content460

                See all similar

                Cited by31

                See all cited by

                Most referenced authors634

                See all reference authors