Herbal Medicine Benzie, Iris F. F; Wachtel-Galor, Sissi
2011
eBook
The global popularity of herbal supplements and the promise they hold in treating various disease states has caused an unprecedented interest in understanding the molecular basis of the biological ...activity of traditional remedies. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects focuses on presenting current scientific evidence of biomolecular ef
About 70% of the world population is currently using medicinal herbs as complementary or alternative medicine, which is increasing at a tremendous pace in both developed and developing countries in ...the last two decades (World Health Organization Medicines Strategy 2002–2005). This increase in consumer demand of medicinal herbs continues despite the rarity of scientific data to establish their safety and efficacy profile. Its popularity is also attributed to several factors, including easy availability, cost effectiveness leading to better purchasing power and general perception that they are safe. Herbs are often administered concomitantly with therapeutic drugs for the treatment of major ailments, raising the potential for herb–drug interactions (HDIs). The major pathways postulated for HDIs involves the cytochrome P450 (CYP450)‐mediated inhibition or induction and transport and efflux proteins. In our review, we highlight frequently used herbal medicines for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders (CVD), their established HDIs studied using in vitro tools and in vivo pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic assays and case reports. Herbs have been divided into different sections on the basis of availability of HDI data in relevance to cardiovascular drugs: herbs reported to interact with cardiac drugs, herbs yet to be reported for interaction with drugs of any class and herbs reported to interact with drugs of other therapeutic category but not with cardiac drugs. The amount of active phytoconstituents present in the selected herbs and their extent of bioavailability are also mentioned. This review can serve as a quick reference database for physicians and health care professionals involved in CVD treatment, aimed at maximizing clinical outcomes with reduction in adverse and toxic effects.
More than half of Thai patients with cancer take herbal preparations while receiving anticancer therapy. There is no systematic or scoping review on interactions between anticancer drugs and Thai ...herbs, although several research articles have that Thai herbs inhibit cytochrome P450 (CYP) or efflux transporter. Therefore, we gathered and integrated information related to the interactions between anticancer drugs and Thai herbs. Fifty-two anticancer drugs from the 2020 Thailand National List of Essential Medicines and 75 herbs from the 2020 Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia were selected to determine potential anticancer drug-herb interactions. The pharmacological profiles of the selected anticancer drugs were reviewed and matched with the herbal pharmacological activities to determine possible interactions. A large number of potential anticancer drug-herb interactions were found; the majority involved CYP inhibition. Efflux transporter inhibition and enzyme induction were also found, which could interfere with the pharmacokinetic profiles of anticancer drugs. However, there is limited knowledge on the pharmacodynamic interactions between anticancer drugs and Thai herbs. Therefore, further research is warranted. Information regarding interactions between anticancer drugs and Thai herbs should provide as a useful resource to healthcare professionals in daily practice. It could enable the prediction of possible anticancer drug-herb interactions and could be used to optimize cancer therapy outcomes.
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