Herbal Remedy PC-SPES Confirmed to Be Active Against Prostate Cancer
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Oct 6 - A report in the October issue of the Journal of
Urology provides more evidence that PC-SPES, a phytotherapeutic containing eight different
herbs, is active against prostate cancer. The latest findings come from Dr. Aaron E. Katz, of
Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, and colleagues.
In efficacy studies involving 69 patients with prostate cancer, Dr. Katz and colleagues found that
"the overwhelming majority...experienced a decrease in serum PSA" after taking three 320-mg
capsules of PC-SPES daily. Two, 6 and 12 months after treatment, 82%, 78% and 88% of
patients had decreased serum PSA levels, respectively.
"Of 22 patients who received PC-SPES for hormone refractory prostate cancer, serum PSA
decreased in 90% at 2-month follow-up and remained decreased at 6 months in 74%," Dr. Katz
and colleagues report. PC-SPES significantly lowered PSA levels in patients who had previously
received no therapy as well as in those treated with radiotherapy, cryotherapy, radical
prostatectomy and/or hormone therapy.
The side effect profile was "comparable to estrogen treatment," the authors report, with 42%
of
patients reporting nipple tenderness, 8% reporting gynecomastia and 7% reporting hot flashes.
PC-SPES is one of the "more exciting herbal therapeutics that are currently being used to treat
prostate cancer," the authors write. "Our observation that this agent has a clinical effect
on
patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer suggests that estrogenlike activity is not its sole
mechanism of action."
J Urol 2000;164:1229-1234.
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