Investigations into the effects of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs used in the treatment of human breast cancer

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is the most popular type of Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) for the treatment of cancer among the Chinese population in Singapore. In most cases it is used to complement conventional treatment (surgery, radio-, chemo- and/or hormonal therapy).We sought a scientific evaluation of the medicinal herbs that might have immunomodulatory and/or anti-tumor effects and could palliate the side-effects (nausea, insomnia, pain and fatigue) of chemo- and radiotherapy in breast cancer patients.The investigation was carried out in clinical and laboratory phase. We selected Solanum nigrum (SN) which was used for its cytotoxic property against breast cancer. We evaluated the tumor cell growth inhibitory effect of the crude ethanolic extract of SN on human breast cancer cell lines and in oophorectomized nude mice models with breast tumor implants. This study suggests there is potential usefulness in using herbal TCM to treat breast cancer patients.