Abstract
Recently, with increasing interest in the cancer-preventive effects of complementary and alternative medicine (CAMs) including functional foods and herbs, their use as health foods has been increasing among cancer patients. Although the antitumoral or cytotoxic activities of CAMs have been well examined, little is known about possible interactions between foods used as CAMs and chemotherapeutic agents. Therefore, in the present study, the effects of ethyl acetate extracts of eight foods or herbs commonly used by cancer patients on the antitumor activity of doxorubicin (DOX), melphalan (L-PAM) or methotrexate (MTX), were investigated in the hepatoma cell line HepG2. The reduction of cell number induced by L-PAM was inhibited by citrus unshiu peel, spinach or green tea extracts, and also the reduction in cell number induced by DOX was inhibited by citrus unshiu peel, broccoli or green tea extracts.
