Chemotherapy: Herbal Remedy May Alter Breast Cancer Chemo

[Guest guest]

Herbal Remedy May Alter Breast Cancer Chemo

 

(Butch's Note: Read it carefully .. they are NOT recommending use of

Black Cohosh .. also .. here is a supposed calculator for estimating (to

some degree) a person's risk factor for breast cancer ..

http://www.halls.md/breast/risk.htm

 

Lab Study Shows Black Cohosh May Have Negative Impact on Chemotherapy

 

By Daniel DeNoon

WebMD Medical News

Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

on Friday, April 29, 2005

 

April 29, 2005 -- A popular herbal remedy may make breast cancer

chemotherapy more toxic, laboratory studies suggest.

 

The herb, black cohosh, has been used for centuries as a remedy for hot

flashes and other symptoms of menopause. It was the main ingredient in

the once-popular Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound.

 

Women with breast cancer -- or at high risk of breast cancer -- should

talk to their doctors about treatment for menopausal symptoms. Many

women with breast cancer take anti-estrogen drugs that, as a side

effect, cause menopausal symptoms like hot flashes. So the use of black

cohosh is widespread among breast cancer patients, who may not tell

their doctors they are using an herbal remedy.

 

Might this affect cancer chemotherapy? Sara Rockwell, PhD, Yale

University professor of therapeutic radiology and pharmacology, took a look.

 

Rockwell's team grew breast cancer cells from mice in their laboratory.

They tested three commercially available, liquid extracts of black

cohosh. None of the extracts, by themselves, harmed the mouse cancer cells.

 

But when combined with breast cancer chemotherapy, the extracts had

different effects. The black cohosh extracts increased the cell-killing

effects of two drugs, doxorubicin and docetaxel. They decreased the

cell-killing effects of another drug, cisplatin. They had no effect on

cells treated with radiation.

 

Although very high doses of the black cohosh extracts were used in most

of these experiments, significant effects were seen at concentrations

equal to about 2.5 times the recommended dose. That's well within the

dose range used by some women.

 

It's possible, of course, that these effects could enhance breast cancer

chemotherapy. But it's also possible these effects could be

life-threatening, Rockwell and colleagues suggest.

 

" Our studies caution that black cohosh should not be considered to be a

harmless herb that is inconsequential to the health of cancer patients

or to the outcome of conventional cancer therapy, " they write. " Until

the effects of black cohosh are better defined, the use of this and

similar herbal preparations by breast cancer patients should be avoided. "

 

The study appears in the April issue of Breast Cancer Research and

Treatment.

 

SOURCES: Rockwell, S. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, April 2005;

vol 90: pp 233-239. News release, Yale University. WebMD Medical News:

" Dangers of Black Cohosh as HRT. "