Herb-Cancer Drug Interactions
There is a significant body of experimental and clinical data supporting a potentially positive role for botanicals in combination with conventional treatments in oncology. Using botanical medicines to counter the adverse effects of the toxic treatments used in conventional oncology would perhaps have surprised the Physiomedicalists, but is an intrinsic component of integrative approaches. Many chemo preventive compounds are associated with beneficial chemo sensitization and radio sensitization; other plant compounds such as flavonoids disable the pumps that cause multidrug resistance. The immunomodulating and adaptogenic herbs described above protect against myelosuppression, which is the dose-limiting toxicity of many chemotherapeutic drugs, as well as increasing the ability of cancer patients to withstand the general stress of both chemo and radiation. Other herbs offer protection against specific toxicities of chemotherapy. Almost invariably these plant medicines are “pharmacological multitaskers”. Ginkgo for example protects against platinum induced renal toxicity, Cytotoxicity and neuropathy, and also acts as a radiation sensitizer by increasing local perfusion rates. Green tea compounds not only enhance doxorubicin transport into malignant cells, it protects the myocardium against the cardio toxic effects of the drug. From the integrative perspective, the list of potential beneficial interactions between botanicals and conventional cancer treatments is long and impressive.
