Table 1.
Phytochemicals clinically tested in cancerous patients
| Phytochemical | Patients | Study Design | Intervention | Effect | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allium sativum | Patients with inoperable colorectal, liver, or pancreatic cancer | Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial | 4 garlic capsules per day for 12 weeks, 4 capsules contained 500 mg of aged garlic extract | Increase of number and activity of natural-killer cells | Ishikawa et al., 2006 |
| Patients with colorectal adenomas | Randomized double-blind trial | 3 capsules twice a day for 12 months, 6 capsules containing the equivalent of 2.4 ml of garlic | Suppress of size and number of colon adenomas | Tanaka et al., 2006 | |
| Camptothecin | Patients with refractory cancers | Phase I clinical trial | Camptothecin: 3 weeks on drug with a 1-week rest; Nitrocamptothecin: 5 consecutive days with a 2-day rest period |
Both compounds lead to tumor regression in a number of patients with breast, prostate and melanoma cancers | Natelson et al., 1996 |
| Patients with primary or metastatic lung cancer | Prospective phase I/II clinical trial | 6.7-26.6 µg/kg/day aerosolized liposomal nitrocamptothecin for 5 consecutive days/week for 1-6 weeks followed by 2 weeks of rest |
Stabilization occurred in 3 patients with primary lung cancer and partial remissions were happened in 2 patients with uterine cancer |
Verschraegen et al., 2004 | |
| Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. | Phase II clinical trial | Intravenous infusion of 100 mg/m2 of CPT-11, a new camptothecin derivative, weekly, or as 150 mg/m2 every 2 weeks | Partial response was observed in 17 of 63 patients (6 of 40 patients with liver metastases and 11 of 28 patients with lung metastases) | Shimada et al., 1993 | |
| Curcumin | Patients with urinary bladder cancer, uterine cervical neoplasm, or intestinal metaplasia | Prospective phase I/II clinical trial | 500 mg/day, orally, for 3 month | Histologic improvement in 1 out of 2 patients with bladder cancer, 1 out of 6 patients with intestinal metaplasia and 1 out of 4 patients with uterine cervical neoplasm |
Cheng et al., 2001 |
| Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer | Nonrandomized open-label phase II trial | 8 g/day curcumin, orally, for one mouth | Among 21 patients, 1 had stable disease for >18 months and 1 had tumor regression | Dhillon et al., 2008 | |
| Green tea | Patients with high-grade prostate intraepithelial neoplasia | Double-blind placebo-controlled trial | 600 mg/day green tea catechins, orally, for one year | After 1 year, the incidence of tumor development was 3% and 30% in treated and control men, respectively; quality of life improved |
Bettuzzi et al., 2006 |
| Patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the prostate | Case-control study | Usual tea consumption | The prostate cancer risk declined with increasing frequency, duration and quantity of green tea consumption green tea |
Jian et al., 2004 | |
| Patients with esophageal cancer | Case-control study | Usual tea consumption | consumption was associated with reduced risk of esophageal cancer | Gao et al., 1994 | |
| Patients with colon, rectum and pancreas cancer | Case-control study | Regular, non-regular and high tea consumption | An inverse association with each cancer was observed with increasing amount of green tea consumption | Ji et al., 1997 | |
| Patients with hormone refractory prostate cancer | Self-control study | 250 mg twice daily for 2 months | Among 15 patients, 9 subjects had progressive disease within 2 months and 6 patients developed progressive disease after additional 1 to 4 months of therapy | Choan et al., 2005 | |
| Patients with hormone refractory prostate cancer | Self-control study | 250 mg twice daily for 2 months | Among 15 patients, 9 subjects had progressive disease within 2 months and 6 patients developed progressive disease after additional 1 to 4 months of therapy | Choan et al., 2005 | |
| Panax ginseng | Patients with cancer of uterine, ovary, rectum, stomach, etc | Randomized double-blind placebo controlled pilot trial | 3000 mg/day of the heat-processed ginseng for 12 weeks | Improvement of mental and physical functioning | Kim et al., 2006 |
| Patients with stage III gastric cancer | Not stated | 4.5 g/day of ginseng powder for 6 months; patients were followed up for 4.5 years | Significant reduction of cancer recurrence and restoration of CD3 and CD4 levels to the initial preoperative values | Suh et al., 2002 |